Before the Worst
by AimeeCollins
Summary: Elena died. She didn't go through the transition. Now, it's up to Damon to travel into the past, to change the tide. Time travel fic. Delena. Possible rating change.
1. Prologue

**Hello readers,**

**This will be a short Delena fanfic. I know that there are other time travel fics, but I think that my idea is somewhat original. If anyone finds a story that's similar, do tell! I don't have a beta, but if anyone knows someone who'd like to, please tell me! So, the first chapter will be sad, you're all warned. Get some tissues! (Just kidding) But the next chapters will be light and fun to read, I promise. I don't think there'll be a real climax or something like that, this is just a fic about their relationship. (I apologise for the lack of environmental details, I don't pay much attention to that in my first chapter, I like to focus more on emotions and such.)**

**Have fun reading!**

'_I'll always remember... I'll never forget, how you took my breath away, the first time we met. No matter what happens... no matter what we do, I'll always remember the first time I saw you.'  
_**- 'Love and life quotes'**

**Before the Worst: Prologue**

_It's everything you wanted, it's everything you don't  
It's one door swinging open and one door swinging closed  
Some prayers find an answer  
Some prayers never know  
We're holding on and letting go_

'Elena, please…' Damon heard his brother beg with lifeless eyes. Stefan's blond hair was ruffled, his clothes were crinkled and dirty, his forehead creased in a pained expression. He couldn't take it anymore, to see his brother so hurt and devastated. So instead of watching his brother, he focused on the centre of attention: Elena.  
She was laying on the couch, in old sweat pants and her training shirt. Her face, that usually was full of life and warmth, was as pale as the moon. There were dark circles under her eyes, she could barely keep them open. Her usual chocolate brown eyes, looked more like dirty mud now.

Damon couldn't blame her. When he'd come running into the hospital, he'd expected to find a dead, cold body. Instead he found Elena, who inhaled her first breaths as a vampire. A vampire that wouldn't go through the transition. Elena had chosen to die. And again, he found that he lacked the strength to blame her, to be angry, even to force her to go through with the transition.  
He didn't have the strength to force-feed her human blood. Although he couldn't understand why his brother, who claimed that he loved Elena, had let her die. Maybe if she'd really died, forever, he could've understood. But because she'd become the one thing she _didn't_ want to be, he couldn't.

Elena weakly shook her head, her pale lips parted, Stefan scooted closer. Instead of words came a weak sound, between a groan and a sigh. Stefan's hand shot out to take a glass filled with water from the coffee table and brought it to Elena's mouth. She drank thirstily, but Damon knew that her thirst would not be quenched. She choked on the water, coughed and a small waterfall flowed over her chin.

Damon heard the sound of a caged animal and clenched his jaws together when he realized that _he_ was the one that made those sounds. Elena's eyes were fixated on him and he managed to give her an apologetic smile. A smile that, he knew, was wobbly and his lips were trembling. He cursed under his breath, spun around and dashed toward his room with inhuman speed.

His own clothes were crimpled and dirty from his fight with Ric. Ric, who'd died because his life had been tied to Elena's. He could see the irony in this all. Elena had died, but had come back, then shouldn't it be the same for Ric? Then again, Ric hadn't been a vampire. Not _really_, as far as he knew. He took off his clothes, searched through his closet and found a cashmere shirt that he hardly ever wore. It was black, like all of his clothes were.

He also found some dark jeans that were actually too small – he'd been in need of clothes and it'd been sale where he'd bought it – but put them on anyway. Damon studied himself in the mirror and found that he looked exactly like those emo kids that ran around in skinny jeans, even though he would kill anyone who'd try to put eyeliner on him.

When he came back, Stefan was gone. Damon looked around, trying to find Caroline, who'd been lingering in the doorway, and Bonnie, who'd been sitting at the fireplace when he'd left. When he found neither, he looked at Elena questioningly. Elena smiled weakly and patted the spot next to her.  
Damon carefully sat down on the couch and bowed toward Elena. When she remained silent, he put his arm around her and stretched out his legs, so that he was laying on the couch as well. He buried his face in the crook of Elena's neck and to his dismay, a whimper came out.

_Is anybody out there?  
Is anybody listening?  
Does anybody really know?  
If it's the end of our beginning_

He hated it, that he was so weak. He wanted to turn his feelings off. But he knew that if he would do that, he would stop to care. He would grab a battle of Bourbon, drown it and walk away. Elena stroked his back and whispered words that should've been soothing, but weren't. _He_ should've comforted her, not the way around. He inhaled shakily and realized that his cheeks were wet. Damon blinked to clear his eyes of the tears and found that no matter how much he blinked, the tears wouldn't leave him alone.

His shoulders were shaking as well, uncontrollably. '_Elena_,' he gasped. The urge to flip the switch, to turn off his feelings, was growing on him each second. He drew back and looked at her, closely. 'Damon?' Elena asked, her voice was hoarse and her tone weak, but Damon could hear her perfectly fine because of his vampire-hearing. 'Yes?' he asked, his voice equally hoarse. He cleared his throat blinked some more, but didn't take his eyes off her. What she said, took him off guard.

'I remember.' she whispered. _Of course_, he thought. He'd forgot that, because she'd died with vampire blood in her system, she would remember what he'd compelled her to forget. He studied her, feeling insecure and even a little shy. 'Are you angry?' he asked carefully. He didn't want to fight on her last day on this Planet.

Elena laughed, it sounded like someone was rubbing cardboard over wood and it quickly turned into moist coughs. Damon's muscles tensed and he felt panic bubbling up. The coughs stopped and Elena drank some more water. 'No. Thanks for giving me a ride.' she said with a smile.  
Damon frowned and tried to remember when exactly he'd given Elena a ride. _Oh, right_. he thought suddenly. His lips formed a smile, a genuine smile this time and he squeezed her hand. 'You're welcome.

_He could see her from his car. She was walking down the schoolyard, gesturing wildly with her free hand. Her other hand was occupied by a mobile cell. She wore a bleached skinny jeans and a black tank top. It fit her well. Damon's lips curled up in the beginning of a smile. 'Are you saying you can't pick me up? Yes, I know, a work meeting. But that means I'll have to walk! No, _Dad_, I can't get a ride, Caroline's left already and Bonnie has been sick today. Yeah, walking is healthy. Bye!_'_  
_

_Her voice became more and more irritated as she spoke. Damon's smirk became wider. He honked, getting her attention. She frowned and walked toward him, gracefully as if she were a skilled dancer. When she reached him, he gave her a little wave. 'Do you need a ride?' he asked cheerfully, he smirked when she leaned forward in an attempt to see his eyes through his sunglasses. In a swift motion, he pulled the glasses up and met her eyes. He could see her inhale sharply. His smirk became wider. He knew what effect he had on girls.  
_

'_Are you a new student?' she asked suspiciously. Damon shook his head. 'Nah. I'm on a little trip through Virginia, saw you making those gestures with your hands and I thought you needed a little help.' he said smoothly. It was a lie, because he'd been waiting there for hours to find her. Her father wasn't in a work meeting at all, but compelled. He'd been planning this for months. He knew her name, the names of her parents, her grades… Almost everything. But today was the first time he met her. 'The name's Damon. What's yours?' he asked smoothly, to change the subject. The suspicion was fading away slowly.  
_

'_Elena. Hello Damon.' she said, a special tone on his name. He knew that tone. She liked him. Damon smirked and hopped out of his convertible to open the passenger door. Elena stepped in the car and stretched her legs. She traced the soft, caramel-coloured leather of her seat.  
_

'_So, where to?' Damon asked her. Of course, he already knew where she lived, but he couldn't tell her that. Elena gave her address and Damon hit the gas pedal. 'Wow.' Elena muttered as she put her seatbelt on. Damon hardly ever used his, but today he did because he had to look trustable and approachable. When he'd reached her house, he got out of the car and theatrically opened her door. _

_Elena laughed and made a show of putting her feet on the pavement. Her long legs almost hypnotized him. She opened the door of her house and stepped inside. 'Thanks for the ride… Do you want to come in?' she asked. Inwardly, Damon cheered. The invitation was all he needed, now he could come and go whenever he wished. But not today. _

'_No thank you. I think I'll go, continue my trip,' he said as he leaned forward. Elena did the same, he could see that she was expecting a kiss. 'But you should forget about this, because a certain someone can't know that I'm here yet.' he told her. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she seemed hypnotized. She nodded. 'Of course.' she said, as if it was the most normal thing to do when someone told you to forget something. _

_Sometimes we're holding angels  
And we never even know  
Don't know if we'll make it,  
But we know,  
We just can't let it show_

Damon shook his head to bring himself back to the present. Elena was eying him worriedly. He smiled reassuringly and squeezed her hand again. 'I'm fine. Just lost in thought.' he told her. She nodded weakly and closed her eyes. Just when he wanted to urge her to open her eyes, she opened her eyes again. 'I feel _so_ tired…' she whispered.

'Don't go to sleep yet!' Damon pleaded. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him. 'Damon?' she asked, to make sure that he was listening. 'I… I think I made a mistake!' she said. She started breathing heavily, her pupils dilated and there was panic in her eyes. Hope blossomed in Damon's heart and he quickly reached out toward the blood bags that had been left next to the couch. When he held one in front of her, she shook her head. Damon felt his hope being crushed.

It cost him a lot of effort to keep himself from forcing it on her, but after a few seconds of wordless pleading, he dropped the bag. 'What do you mean?' he asked her. He scooter even closer. 'I chose… wrong..' she whispered. Damon immediately understood what she was talking about. Adrenaline rushed through his veins. 'Elena,' he said slowly, determined to make her understand. 'If you go through the transition, we can… be together.' _Forever_ was a word that he couldn't say, dreading that it would scare her off.

Elena shook her head. She gasped suddenly, clutching her head with her hands. She whimpered like an abused animal, Damon held her tightly and begged her to change her mind. 'I… I remember what you told me and I…' she swallowed heavily. 'I feel the same… way.' Damon drew away from her and kissed her softly and slowly. He tasted blood, salt and coppery, but with a strange tang. Tainted blood. Damon could see the blood flowing from her mouth, her nose… He shook her violently and yelled that she had to open her eyes.

Her heart stopped beating. The silence was deafening. Damon clutched her lifeless body to his chest and cried. He softly laid her on the couch and grabbed a blanket from the chair that was closest to the couch. He draped it over her, but he didn't have the guts to pull it over her head. If there hadn't been blood everywhere, he could've convinced herself that she was sleeping and would wake up, healthy and human.

_A cry  
A rush  
From one breath  
Is all we're waiting for  
Sometimes the one we're taking  
Changes every one before_

He slowly walked to his room, taking time for every single step. When he reached his room, he opened his drawer to reveal a wooden stake. He grabbed the stake, causing the papers that had covered it to scatter through the room.

When he took some sips from a glass filled with Bourbon that tasted like berries and a smouldering fireplace, his eyes caught words on one of the papers that caused him to pick it up. _'Time travel_' it read in English. The rest of the paper was writing in the gibberish of witches, a mix of Latin and something else he couldn't remember. He recognized it as a lose paper of one of Bonnie's grimoires.

The stake was forgotten and dumped on the floor when he shot through the house, in search of his phone. He found it on the table in the hall. He dialled the number so quickly that he had to repeat it a few times to prevent mistakes. 'Hello Bonnie,' he said when Bonnie picked up. He shook his head and cleared his throat to prevent any tears. 'Forget about that. I need you to juju a time travel spell for me…'


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello readers, **

**A quick shout-out to: **

**DelenasShipper: Thank you! Damon will get plenty of chances to fix what he's done wrong, as well as to win Elena's heart. I hope you'll like this chapter as much as I do. **

**Vivianafrancesca: Thank you!**

**AussieVampireBarbie: Thank you! I discovered that my story isn't as original as I thought, though; five people have already used the title! If you search it, click on 'advanced' and pick 'title', you'll find them all nicely in a row. :) **

**I forgot to mention the song in the previous chapter. The song featured was 'Holding on and letting go' by Ross Copperman. I'll be using songs from Delena scenes (or other scenes) in every chapter, though I don't see this as a songfic. And Surprise Surprise, there will be Klaroline in this story! I really like those two… **

**Initially only Damon would go back in time, but I think it would be easier for me to write if Stefan would go too. Suddenly Caroline got in the mix and naturally, because Klaus is just too badass to forget everything, Klaus will time-travel as well and remember things. So, basically, Bonnie, Elena and the rest of the Original family are the only ones who don't remember. Though I might make an exception for Elijah, it just seems silly for him to be left in the dark. I don't think Katherine will make an appearance, though, I don't really like what she's become in series 3 (information dropper, kind of) **

**I would really like your feedback on how I grasp the characters, if I write them in character and all. I hope you enjoy!  
**

**Featured song: "Be still" by The Fray**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Two**

_Be still and know that I'm with you  
Be still and know that I am here  
Be still and know that I'm with you  
Be still, be still, and know  
_

Damon was making coffee. It was ironic. The love of his life – even though she'd admitted that she'd made the wrong choice, he didn't dare to even think of her as his girlfriend – had died. He'd been prepared to end his own life. Then, he'd found that grimoire page with the time travel spell. He waited impatiently for the coffee machine to finish and found that he'd taking over Stefan's bad habit: he was tapping on the counter with his daylight ring.

His lips curled up into a wry smile as he filled the coffee mugs. He dragged all of them back to the living room, not caring about the heat that scorched his arms through the fabric of his shirt. The mugs made it into the living room unharmed, where Stefan, Bonnie and Caroline were seated. He'd been the one to call Bonnie, who'd taken it upon herself to call Caroline.

Apparently, his brother had been listening at the door when Elena and he'd talked. Stefan nodded at him sadly and for the first time Damon had the feeling that the air had cleared up between them. There was nothing left for them to fight each other for, so they were at peace. As much as they could be, given the circumstance, anyway.

'One more time, Caroline.' Stefan instructed the blonde vampire. She wore pale skinny jeans, low shoes and a casual wide blouse. If you only looked at her clothes, you'd think that she was ready for a party, or a shopping trip. But Caroline shook back her hair, the lose blonde waves fell over her back. She seemed irritated. Damon would've been irritated if he had to do what _she_ had to do.

'All right. My mother is a witch. She sent me there because I'm blind and I should find a man to marry. My name is Caroline Williamson.' she said after taking a deep breath. A small blush found its way to her cheeks when she spoke about wedding someone, because it was evident to everyone that that man would be Klaus.

Bonnie shook her head with an apologetic laugh. The fire in the fireplace illuminated her frame and her dark hair. 'No. You're a _blind spot_, not _blind_!' she corrected, sounding a bit lost. A blind spot, Damon knew, was a generation in a witch family that _wasn't_ a witch. Emily Bennett's mother had been a blind spot. The power of a blind spot was concentrated in the next generation, creating a witch with both her own power and the power of her mother.

Damon's lips curled up into a smile. If anything, Bonnie was a powerful witch, but she wasn't a the daughter of a blind spot. Caroline laughed her short, unbelieving laugh and shook her head and held up her hands in a sign of defeat. 'I'm a _blind spot_.' she repeated to herself, as if she would start believing it if she only said it enough times.

'So what do _we_ do?' Stefan asked Bonnie and Damon remembered the tone. It was his I'm-serious-don't-mess-with-me-because-I'll-tear-your-throat-out-tone. Bonnie shove in her chair uneasily. Damon put the coffee mugs down and sat down on the couch. Elena's scent hung heavily around him, along with the scent of her tainted blood. He swallowed uneasily and took a sip of his coffee.

When he'd heard that Bonnie and Caroline would come in five minutes, he'd carefully moved Elena to his bedroom. Where else could he'd moved her? It wasn't like he could drop her in a container or in the trunk of his car. Still, he knew that the place would tell Stefan what he'd already heard: Elena was his. He grimaced and turned his attention to Bonnie.

'Yes, little witch, what _do_ we do?' he asked mockingly. Bonnie seemed to shiver and leaned forward. 'The spell will drop you in front of the Mikealson's house, in their time. If I'm right, everyone will come running out. The second part of the spell send you two to the woods, close to the Lockwood cell. Klaus will feel the need to protect Caroline.' Bonnie decided on a confident tone.

Damon cocked an eyebrow and studied the witch carefully. She stared back at him and didn't waver. 'Protect Caroline from what, Bonnie?' Damon asked. Bonnie cocked her head to the side and smiled. 'You'll see.' she said, letting nothing go.

Caroline cut through their little rendezvous with a well asked question. 'So what exactly do we need for this spell?' Bonnie sat back, but Damon didn't miss the horror and guilt in her expression when she thought about the question. 'Spit it out!' Damon snapped at her.

'Doppelgänger blood…. and Elena's heart.' Bonnie said slowly, insecurely. Damon shot up, causing his coffee mug to topple over, but he just ignored it. '_What_?' he snapped. 'Are you telling me that one of us has to rip Elena's heart from her chest?' he asked, his voice raised an octave. His tone was laced with disbelief and shock, but he also understood that this was something that had to be done.

Bonnie wavered and Stefan sighed. Of course there was more. 'Even worse. One of you will have to hold it, through the entire spell.' she said apologetically. Damon shook his head, went through his hair with his raven black hair and sat down. Stefan opened his mouth to say something, but Damon beat him to it. 'I'll do it. Both the deeds.' Stefan nodded resigned.

Damon got up and walked toward his bedroom. Elena was still dressed in her training shirt and sweat pants, because there would be no burial, no funeral. Everyone that Elena knew was either dead, or a vampire.

_If terror falls upon your bed  
And sleep no longer comes  
Remember all the words I said  
Be still, be still, and know_

He stood in front of her, stroked her long brown hair. Tears trickled down his cheeks and he blinked to chase them away. He bent down and brushed his lips across hers, inhaled her scent rubbed his cheek across hers. _Just do it. Do it and it'll be fine. _But somehow he knew that it wouldn't be fine. There was a chance that the spell wouldn't work, they could get stuck in the Original time, they could land on a road and get run over by a truck… Or Elena could fall for his brother.

Damon closed his eyes. Veins stood out against his skin, beneath his eyes. He felt his fangs ache and tried to remember the last time he'd fed. He went through his knees and kneeled next to Elena. Gently, he kissed her neck, before he cut through her jugular. He got a mouthful of blood in his mouth before he had the time to pull back and collected her blood in three crystal glasses, the glasses he would usually pour Bourbon in.

He took his time to make sure that his fangs were no longer visible. He knew that he could just go to the basement and get a blood bag, but he wouldn't allow himself. Not before the spell had been cast and he was in a time that Elena was alive. After closing his eyes again, he counted to three and turned the switch. Elena's heart laid in his hand seconds after and he frowned at it.

After a struggle, his feelings were turned on again and he had to fight the guilt and remorse that he felt while he looked at the heart of the doppelgänger in his hand. Worse, he would have to hold it for what possibly could become the rest of the evening.

When he returned to the living room, all eyes turned to the organ that he held in his hand. Stefan paled and a sob came out of Caroline's mouth. Bonnie was the only one who seemed perfectly calm. Three white candles were lit on the coffee table, his spilled coffee had been cleaned up and there was no trace of the mugs.

He gently put the heart down in front of the candles and quickly retrieved the three glasses of blood. When Bonnie took a stake out of her pocket, they gasped simultaneously. It was a stake made of the _white oak_ _tree_. 'Where the hell did you get that from?' Damon asked. Bonnie smiled and said she had her ways. Bonnie dipped the white oak dagger in the doppelgänger blood and laid it aside. Damon eyed it suspiciously. Who would Bonnie kill tonight?

When he thought about it, the biggest chance was that it would be him. Bonnie didn't exactly root for him in the love triangle department. Damon shrugged at the thought. Elena, past-Elena, would probably choose Stefan anyway. They always chose Stefan. He just hoped that Stefan and Caroline wouldn't have to see it, because it would break Stefan's heart.

It was ironic that he would die by the hand of a witch, while he survived the attack of Ric the immortal vampire-hunter. If Elena hadn't died just in time, he would've been dead already. But he didn't thank her, he would've died gladly if it had saved her life. The candles flared up and they took their places. With Caroline in the middle, Bonnie had a clear shot at his heart. Damon sighed and his grip on Elena's heart tightened slightly.

Bonnie gave them the glasses and ordered them to drink. Stefan muttered "I'm sorry" softly, Caroline sighed and Damon just drowned the glass. Suddenly, he grasped his stomach and groaned. He bent down and gasped, struggling for air. Seconds later, he was laying on the wooden floor, he could only just see Caroline through his half open eyes.

She stared at him, her blue eyes wide. Damon gasped for a breath, the pain in his midriff was burning through his muscles and his entire body. He could hear his brother gasp as well and he realized that Bonnie wouldn't just kill him. She would kill all of them. Or maybe, just maybe, Klaus _had_ created their bloodline. Maybe the effect of his death had slowed down, because they were vampires and Tyler had been a hybrid.

_When darkness comes upon you  
And covers you with fear and shame  
Be still and know that I'm with you  
And I will say your name_

Bonnie began an incantation. Damon's free hand clawed over the floor, in the other hand his clutch on Elena's heart never ceased. He groaned and tried to get up, but he just fell over again. He heard Bonnie moving and fear made his heart skip a beat when he saw the stake in her hand. She kept incanting and Damon closed his eyes and braced himself for what was to come. His eyes shot open when he heard Caroline scream. Blood trickled down the stab wound in her chest.

Damon blinked and flinched when Bonnie pulled the stake out of Caroline's heart. He immediately knew that something was wrong. Caroline's body didn't disintegrate, like the body of a staked vampire should. Instead, she gasped for breath and screamed at the pain that she was feeling. Damon understood what he'd just witnessed and his heart sped up. Bonnie had reversed Caroline's transformation. She was no longer a vampire. Caroline was _human_.

A flash of bright light blinded him, the pain became unbearable. He screamed when the world exploded.

_If you forget the way to go  
And lose where you came from  
If no one is standing beside you  
Be still and know I am_

Klaus studied his face in the reflection of a puddle of water. The witch had ordered him to stay here. Not that he was following any orders, but she'd spelled the exit of the Lockwood cell, he couldn't get out. His hand went through his short, black hair and the hybrid wished that he had his blonde hair back. Tyler's eyes stared back at him, accusing, judging.

The Original cringed and turned away. He'd lost everything. The doppelgänger was dead, the line had ended with her. The witch had been consumed by darkness, no one could predict what she would do. Rebekah hated him, Stefan hated him, everyone hated him. His lips curled up in a wry smile. At least one thing had worked according to plan: Stefan was using him as a target for his anger.

Caroline hated him. Tears welled up in his eyes. He closed his eyes tightly and balled his hands into fists.

_A part of him couldn't understand why he was running through the school with Damon and Stefan. Another part of him knew the answer: Caroline. She was here. Alaric was going to kill her. That was the reason that he was immensely relieved when he saw her running through the hallway. _

_He didn't waste any time. He grabbed her from behind and his arm wound itself around her neck, his hand covered her mouth. 'Shh… It's okay. It's me. You're safe. We'll save Elena, you go straight home, you stay inside. You understand?'_ _when she didn't reply, he turned her around and looked at her. 'Do you understand me?' he asked a little harder, he tightened his grip on her to make her see that he really meant it. _

_Caroline nodded. Her hair danced on her back. She whispered 'Thank you.' Klaus nodded and opened his mouth to say something. Something along the line of 'I love you.' He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to take her away and run for his live. Why did he need the doppelgänger again? He didn't need his hybrids, or his family, if he had Caroline. He knew that if he stayed any longer, he would do something he would regret later. So he ran._

_Be still and know that I'm with you  
Be still and know I am_

He wanted to get away from the pain. This had to stop. His bones snapped, it felt like they were breaking. He screamed and his body twisted in impossible ways to make the pain cease. _Stop!_ he thought. The transformation stopped just in time for him to realize that this pain, this unbearable pain, didn't come from his werewolf side. It wasn't emotional pain, this was real _physical_ pain. He cried out Caroline's name, just before he was blinded by an incredible white light.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hello readers!**

**A quick shout-out to: **

**MarieeSalvatorelover: Thank you! Here's the next chapter. I'm excited, couldn't wait to get to the **_**actual**_** time travel plot!**

**DelenasLovatic/DelenasShipper: Thank you! Yes, sometimes I feel kind of weird when things move too quickly. All my stories are a bit slow and I hate books were everything happens so fast…**

**Vivianafrancesca: Thank you! I think that some parts of this story will be all out of my control. Like Klaus and Caroline time travelling as well, it wasn't my intention, it just happened!**

**I mistakenly named the previous chapter Chapter Two, while it was actually Chapter One, because the first 'chapter' is the prologue. Sorry for the inconvenience! **

**Excuse me for the lack of description and detail in this story. I'm writing this just for fun, not as a writing exercise. **

**Song featured: "A drop in the ocean" by Ron Pope (only briefly, in-story)**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Two**

They landed on their backs. Damon groaned and opened his eyes, all of his muscles ached. He knew that his brother had landed next to him. Elena's heart was still in a tight clutch in his hand. Caroline started sobbing violently. Damon wished that he could comfort her, but his muscles were doing weird things. The skin under his eyes burned, his eyes burned, his fangs ached and throbbed. His heart was pounding, but it was as if there was no blood to be pumped around.

_Figures. We're in a time _before_ we were turned!_ Damon thought. He wondered if he was going to die. He wondered how on Earth this was going to work. Katherine wasn't born yet, the Originals weren't vampires yet: in logics,_ they_ didn't even exist yet! He wondered if they should stop the Founders from founding the town, it would save them a lot of trouble.

His lips curled up in a smile, a smile that faded away when spasms went through his body. Footsteps stomped on the ground and Damon cringed at the sound that invaded his ears. 'What's going on?' he heard a voice ask. The voice caused him to groan. His eyes slid to the place where the stranger stood. It was no one other than the infamous Klaus Mikealson.

Klaus'es blue eyes were on him, then they slid to Stefan, who'd gotten up halfway. When Klaus'es eyes found Caroline, they widened. He took one step closer and that was enough for Caroline to fly into his arms. '_Klaus!_' she yelled through sobs. Damon cringed and cursed her in his mind.

The Original seemed taken aback at first, but then his arms slowly snaked around Caroline's waist. The Salvatore brothers were a bit at loss when it seemed like they were clinging to each other like they were each other's lifeline. An explosion caught Damon's attention and before he knew it, another bright flash had blinded him. The last thing he saw was Klaus, who'd wrapped his body around Caroline's protectively, shielding her from the light. _Oh, so that's what Bonnie meant_. Damon noted.

The next thing the Salvatore brother's knew, was that they were at their house. The Salvatore Boarding house. 'Well, there we are brother.' Damon said. Then his eyes found the organ in his hand. He threw the heart away into the bushes nearby, shrugging it off as if he'd just thrown trash away. Stefan frowned and they lingered outside, unsure whether they should go in or not. After a few minutes of silence, Damon took the spare key from under the door mat – Stefan's hiding place, not his - and let himself in.

They looked around, checking if things were still in their places. Damon went downstairs to check if there were blood bags in the freezer and found out that there weren't. He shut the lid with a loud _thud_ and went back upstairs to check his Bourbon stash. Satisfied, he found out that there was plenty. He poured himself a drink and tapped his brother's glass with his.

'So… do you think Caroline had enough time?' Stefan asked after seconds of uncomfortable silence. Damon swallowed and shrugged. 'How much time do you think she had? We were blast into the future seconds after we arrived!' Damon said. He couldn't understand how it all worked. If they were in this time, did that mean that Caroline hadn't had _any_ time?

Or were there multiple futures and pasts? Was Caroline doing things with the Originals right now, while they were in this time? Did that mean that Bonnie could see the effects of whatever they did, in the 'old' future? Damon's head pounded and he downed his drink, hoping that it would help.

'So what do we do now? Do we stop the accident? That won't keep Katherine from coming into town. Or is Katherine non-existent because Klaus wouldn't need her? Then how do we live?' Stefan asked himself more than his brother. Damon rolled his eyes, he didn't care, as long as he would get Elena safe and alive. But something his brother said reminded him of a matter that had crossed his mind before…

'Wait a minute. Does this all mean that we're _older_ than the Originals? Are _we_ the Originals now?' Damon asked. The question took Stefan off guard. Stefan shrugged, muttered 'no idea' and took a sip of his drink. 'Maybe we should find a vampire to compel, to see if we're able to.' Stefan suggested. Damon _already_ saw the problem in that. Vampires didn't appreciate being mistaken for a human and that was what they would think, if a vampire tried to compel them.

'Well, I have to go.' Damon said, while he got up. Stefan eyed him questioningly. 'Where are you going?' he asked suspiciously, Damon laughed at his brother's expression. 'I'm getting a car.' he said mischievously. He thought about the old convertible that he'd bought and decided that he should get a better one this time. A very expensive one, an automatic hybrid, one that ran on electricity _and_ gasoline.

_Since when do I care about the environment?_ Damon wondered to himself, but, of course, he didn't. He was just thinking about cars that would impress Elena. As far as he knew, she didn't have much interest in cars, whether it be this future or the old future. Stefan shook his head and as Damon left his brother alone with his guilt and regrets. Yes, it was a green car. Yes, it worked on electricity, for the first fifty miles. But no, Damon Salvatore was _not_ caring about the environment.

_Yeah, keep saying that. I'm sure I'll start believing it._ he thought to himself. The truth was, he'd been there a long time. He'd seen the bad things that people did. The fact that Sherriff Forbes had always yelled at him to stop using so much water when washing his hands also helped a lot. Unfortunately, it wasn't a convertible. And unfortunately, it was one hell of an expensive car. That he'd gotten for free. Yes, he had compelled the poor car dealer, but hey, there was no way that he was going to sell that car anyway. So Damon had just done the man a favour.

Damon rolled his eyes as he put the gear in "Park", in front of the school. He waited for ten minutes, until the bell rang. Not long after, a familiar person walked through the schoolyard. Damon sucked in his breath when he recognized her chocolate brown hair, her brown eyes, her pale skin… It was no one other than Elena Gilbert, breathing and alive and _mortal_. He had to use all of his self-discipline to keep himself from getting out of the car and running toward her.

_She doesn't know you yet. She'll think you're a creep. _Damon reminded himself. Still, the pace that she had annoyed him to no end. _Walk a little faster!_ he thought to her. He'd thought it so loud that he was surprised that she didn't fall over, or at least stumble a bit. Finally, she'd reached the car. Her loud and irritated "_Yes, walking is healthy. Bye!"_ echoed in his mind, until he realized that she'd actually _said_ that into her phone.

He honked, thrilled at the attention that he attracted by the sound of his $100.000 car. Elena's brown eyes widened at the car, but soon her expression became taxing. She studied the car up and down, along the smooth streamlined surface, to the headlights. Damon was glad that he'd chosen for a black car, because grey would've looked dull. Besides, his trademark colour was black and he couldn't afford to change that now.

'Do you need a ride?' Damon asked, echoing himself. He didn't have his sunglasses on, because no matter how hard he'd tried, he couldn't remember where he'd left them. It had been one and a half year ago, for crying out loud. 'Are you a new student?' she asked suspiciously, while eying him wearily. Damon's lips pulled up in a smile.

'Nah. I'm on a little trip through Virginia. Saw you making those gestures with your hands and I thought you needed a little help.' he said easily. It wasn't like the first time, the first time he'd only wanted to meet her. But now, he wanted more than that. Damon wanted to be the one who her heart belonged to, he wanted _more_ than love… Most of all, he wanted to _consume_ her.

Damon swallowed heavily and felt an unfamiliar warmth going through his stomach. He chuckled and eyed Elena differently. His emotions were probably shown on his face, because Elena took a step forward, almost as if she were enchanted. She swallowed and swallowed again, as if her mouth had turned into a desert. Damon could hear her heart speed up. He smirked to himself.

He was so focused on Elena's steady heart-beat that he almost forgot what he'd said in the past. 'Er… the name's Damon. What's yours?' he asked smoothly on a relaxed tone. Elena leaned against the car and licked her lips. 'Elena. Hello _Damon_.' she put the emphasis on his name, as if he was a prey she wanted to catch. As if _she_ wanted to seduce _him_. Damon's heart missed a beat. He'd never thought that she would say his name _like that_. He wondered how it would be if she whispered his name into his ear, softly, while their lips met and… -

'Is that a _Fisker Karma_?' he heard someone ask. Unfortunately, he knew that voice as well. American football-playing Matt was advancing on his car as if it would break to pieces if he came too close. The guy even forget to look at his girlfriend suspiciously for talking to a stranger. 'Ah, yes it is. A Fisker Karma EcoSport. Eclipse model.' Damon said, winking to Elena. Elena laughed and silently blew him a kiss. Matt would see it if Damon caught the kiss, so he just gave her a thumbs up.

'The_ you__-only-have-to-fill-your-tank-twice-a-year_ Fisker Karma?' Matt asked again, as if he couldn't believe that the car was actually in front of him. Damon nodded and was getting annoyed. 'Matt, this is Damon. Damon, Matt.' Elena said, breaking the hypnotic stare that Matt had descended into. With a small 'Huh?' Matt looked up at Damon. 'Oh eh, nice car.' Matt said. Damon gave a polite thank you, almost too polite and hit the gas pedal. The car roared and Matt muttered 'Damn!', amusing Damon greatly.

'Damon's going to ride me home.' Elena said after the engine died away. Matt's head shot up, his blonde hair was ruffled by the wind and he was still wearing his football clothing. '_What?'_ he snapped. Damon shrugged apologetically and smiled at Matt. 'There's no one else who can get her home, sorry.' Damon taunted. Elena grinned silently and Matt rolled his eyes.

Matt opened his mouth, probably to give Elena an entire speech about not getting into cars that belonged to strangers, but Elena gripped Matt's arm and smiled at him reassuringly. 'Matt, I'll be fine. It's not like he's taking me into a forest or something. Just to my house and then he'll go, right, Damon?' Elena asked, mouthing 'Say yes!' at him. Damon nodded. 'Absolutely. No more to it.' he promised.

Matt nodded wearily and was about to protest, until someone – the coach probably – called his name. Matt gave Elena a quick kiss on her lips and jogged back to the football field. Damon had to fight the urges to throw Matt into a wall, or make him trip, or whatever. He constantly reminded himself that Elena had been Matt's girlfriend at the time, but that she was feelings doubts anyway. It would all take care of itself.

'So, a ride it is.' Damon agreed. He hopped out of his car and opened the passenger door for Elena. Elena giggled and got into the car. Damon closed the door behind her and went into the car as well. He switched the gear to "Sport" under Elena's watchful eye. 'You're going to show off?' Elena asked him smugly. Damon smirked at her and hit the gas pedal to make the engine roar. Several heads on the schoolyard turned toward the car. 'Why not? It's almost a crime to not show off with a car like this.' Damon said.

'So, where to?' Damon asked Elena. He already knew where she lived, he'd been inside her house many times. Even in her bedroom, he smirked at the memory of laying on her bed, annoying Elena to no end by not getting off. But he hadn't formally met her parents. Elena gave her address and Damon drove away with a speed that made her gasp. The tires squeaked and probably left an imprint on the street, but Damon couldn't care less.

He realized that all the while, he kept looking at Elena out of the corners of his eyes. He couldn't keep his eyes off her, not even when she leaned against the window, her head against her hand, staring out of the front window like she would fall asleep any minute. Damon turned up the radio to make the silence less awkward.

'_A drop in the ocean,  
A change in the weather,  
I was praying that you and me might end up together.  
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert,  
But I'm holding you closer than most,  
'Cause you are my heaven._'

He gulped and considered turning the volume down again. But, that would be suspicious, even though Elena had no idea about the love-triangle-brother-rivalry. And he wasn't about to add a 'yet', to that. Elena sighed and Damon noticed that she too was studying him. The ride was over too soon and Damon stopped the car in front of the Gilbert residence. Elena got out of the car and walked toward the door.

Like Damon expected, she whirled around on the doorstep and looked at him. She smiled and flipped back her hair. 'Thanks for the ride… Do you want to come in?' Damon's emotions were hidden behind a mask that he'd long ago said farewell to. Elena frowned and titled her head to the side.

Damon's face split open into a broad smile. 'I would like that.' he said.

**Author's note: I actually found out about Fisker Karma on 2012/04/17/ian-somerhalder-wants-damon-salvatore-to-go-green/**,** and I wondered: "How can I get this into the story?" I googled a bit, and found out about the EcoSport and Eclipse.. model? Colour? What do you call it? That car is going to solve some problems and save some lives, you mark my words! (In the story, that is. Don't review **_**why**_** or **_**how**_**, if you found out. It has to be a surprise!) **


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello readers! **

**A quick shout-out to: **

**Guest: Thank you!**

**Vivianafrancesca: You have to have a little patience. :) They'll all get reunited a bit later in the story. Yes, Caroline knows that she's from the future, she remembers everything, because she was in the ritual and drank Elena's blood. How this is going to work for Klaus, since he got neither, I'll have to figure out yet. :)**

**The original bitch: Thank you! Like I said to Vivianafrancesca, just wait and see!**

**I decided to the put the songs at the end of the chapters. Just because it's beginning to feel more and more as a songfic to me, which it isn't. The last line of the song ("How long can we keep this up?") is changed a bit. In the real lyrics, "up" is repeated three times. **

**Song featured: "Distance" by Christina Perri **

**Before the Worst: Chapter Three**

Damon studied Elena. She was leaning against the doorpost and studied him as well. Up until now, Damon had known what he should do, because it had all happened before. Now, Damon was on his own. If he went inside, he would meet the Elena before the accident. _Really_ meet her, instead of small conversations that he would compel her to forget. The downside was that he'd already fallen for Elena, he knew everything about her and she knew nothing about him.

The thought hurt him, badly. He shook it off and motioned for Elena to step aside. Elena took a step back and Damon stepped over the threshold, the invisible barrier gone. He smiled at Elena and Elena grabbed his arm and dragged him along with her. 'I'll give you a quick tour.' Elena said. The place where her hand touched his skin burned.

Damon almost knew the house better than she did. The living room was still the same, apart from the newspaper and men shoes in the corner. The kitchen was the same as well, everything was the same. Even Elena's room, at which he hesitated to enter. Elena sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to her. When Damon advanced, she suddenly grabbed under the bed, to reveal a bottle of Russian Vodka. He froze on the spot and stared at the liquid that looked more like water, but he knew wasn't.

_What the hell?_ he thought, confused greatly. Then he reminded himself that he didn't know how the Elena before the accident acted. Evidently a bit out of control. 'Want some?' Elena asked, offering the bottle to Damon. He didn't know what to say, so he sat down next to her to earn some more time.

'No thank you. I'm more of a Bourbon man myself.' Damon said with his 500Watt smile. Elena batted her eyelashes at him and Damon felt a strange sensation going through his body. _Oh God, she's flirting me with,_ he thought. Seconds later, he thought: _Oh God, she has a _boyfriend_ and she's still flirting with me_. He felt strangely conflicted. If Elena was like this, drunk and cheating and not caring about anything in the world, did he still want her?

The answer came instant. Of course he wanted her! _I'm just a bit confused. I'll get used to it. _Damon told himself. 'All right. More for me.' Elena said laughingly before she put the bottle at her mouth and drank _a lot_. Damon snatched the bottle out of her hand and drank the remaining contents, just so that she wouldn't get drunk. Damon knew drunk girls: they wanted things they wouldn't usually want. Like to lose their virginity to a mysterious stranger they'd only met the same day.

_If she's still a virgin…_ Damon thought. He knew nothing about this Elena. He wanted to slap himself for being so stupid, why hadn't he done more research? Why hadn't he asked Elena's father for a summary of her behaviour? _Great, now I make it sound as if she's an animal_. The vodka burned in his throat and he coughed, tears welling up in his eyes.

'I thought you said you drank!' Elena said, a bit mockingly. She laughed and threw back her head, exposing her throat. Damon felt his fangs throb. _No, no, no, no, NO, NO! Since when am I like Stefan? _Damon wondered when he felt the unbearable urge to sink his fangs into her throat. He was in control. He was _Damon_ for crying out loud!

'Bourbon, honey. Vodka and Bourbon are in no way alike.' Damon said a bit hoarsely. Elena smirked and dug under her bed again to hand him a bottle of Bourbon. His lips curled up in a smile and he quickly took the cork out and gulped thirstily. He let out a content sigh. 'That's better.' he said with a nod, as if he agreed with himself.

Elena took the bottle from him and took a sip. A coughing fit followed. Damon smiled. 'Told you they weren't the same.' he said mockingly. Elena rolled her eyes and put the bottle down. All of her attention was on Damon now. She leaned forward and Damon leaned back, _scared_ for what she would do. If she'd kiss him, it would be one of those I-kissed-you-but-I-have-a-boyfriend-so-I'll-never-see-you-again-kiss. Elena frowned and stopped when she saw his reluctance.

She straightened herself, looking slightly offended and confused and mumbled something under her breath. She took another sip of her Bourbon and Damon could see that she was fighting against another coughing fit. 'Just cough, if you don't, you'll begin to feel short for breath.' he said. Elena coughed and he patted her back until she was done.

'How about going to the Grill?' Elena asked. She probably didn't want to be alone with him anymore, because he'd rejected her. Damon scolded at himself. She'd been _willing_, she'd wanted to kiss him and he _rejected_ her? But now he was facing another problem. Grayson, Elena's father, was at the Grill. 'Ah, no, not a good idea. I drank an entire bottle of Bourbon and stumbled away without paying.' Damon explained when Elena's expression became suspicious.

Damon sighed and realized that he had to do something about it. Just once, it wouldn't do much damage. He leaned forward and Elena closed her eyes. Damon stopped. He couldn't compel her with her eyes closed! _I'll have to try…_ Damon thought to himself. His eyes burned holes in Elena's eyelids, but they didn't open.

'You don't want to kiss me.' he instructed, cringing a little. 'You'll only kiss me when you have feelings for me… and you and your boyfriend have broken up. Not because you're drunk or you want a one-night-stand. Understood?' he asked softly. Elena opened her eyes and smiled at him. 'Understood.' she said.

Damon sat back, a bit confused. Had it worked, or was she just playing along? He decided to test her. He leaned forward and pursed his lips, advancing on Elena. Elena put her hand on his chest and pushed slightly. _She doesn't have feelings for me._ Damon thought and he felt hurt because of it. He would just have to be patient. Unfortunately, patience wasn't a word in his vocabulary.

'Damon, I'm-' Elena begun when she saw his hurt expression. Damon shook his head and took her hands in his. 'It's fine, Elena.' he said, even though he was lying. He felt hurt. Badly hurt. Damon sighed deeply and stood up. 'I think it's better if I leave.' he said softly. Elena's eyes widened and he understood why. She thought that she'd never see him again.

_If only you just knew_. Damon thought. Elena stood up and grabbed him at his arm. 'Damon, I'm sorry. I should've told you… I have a boyfriend.' Elena confessed. Damon managed a smile, but didn't pull his arm away. 'Matt, you mean?' he asked. Elena nodded and blinked, because there were tears in her eyes. _How can she cry while she doesn't have feelings for me?_ he wondered, but he knew that this had to do with Matt, not with him.

'Could you _please_ not tell him?' Elena begged. Damon couldn't take it anymore, he'd been hurt too much. In this future and the other one, it didn't matter. He turned off his feelings and he knew that all Elena would see, was a mask. 'I won't tell him.' Damon said, his tone emotionless. Elena let out a relieved sigh. 'I'll go now.' Damon announced.

He turned around and walked toward the door. Just as he was about to open it, it was opened from the other side. The face of Grayson Gilbert looked at him, surprised but not shocked. Damon's switch snapped back and he was overthrown by a wave of emotions. 'Oh, hello.' Grayson said politely. Damon blinked a few times, but then stretched out his hand. 'Hi. I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore.' he said. Grayson's eyes widened, but he shook Damon's hand.

'Grayson Gilbert.' he said politely. He looked around to see if his daughter was near and then returned to Damon. Damon was shocked by the hateful expression on his face. 'I take it you were just leaving?' Grayson asked on a threatening tone. At first, Damon thought that it was because of his bad-boy appearance. Then it hit him. Founding family. Council member. _Vampire hunter_?

'Yes, I was just leaving.' Damon said nervously. It confused Grayson. 'Well, then _go_. My daughter invited you in, but consider the invitation undone.' he said coldly. He held the door open and Damon, feeling strangely threatened, used his vampire speed to disappear.

* * *

'Can you believe it?' Damon asked his brother when he sat down on the couch with a glass of blood bag-blood. Stefan sighed and put the newspaper he'd been reading down. 'Yes, Damon, I can. For one because you told me. It's logical. They're a founding family. As far as I know, _all_ founding family men have been hunters.' Stefan said. His tone sounded too calm, as if it didn't bother him the slightest.

'And now?' Damon asked. 'I can never get close to her when her father tries to kill me! What if he's _told_ her?' Damon asked. He felt panic bubbling up, but pushed it back. Stefan laughed humourlessly. 'You know, when I saved Elena, I think Grayson knew what I was. It's impossible to swim to the bottom of a lake without having to breath. Still, he wanted me to save Elena first.' Stefan said.

Damon rolled his eyes and took another sip of his blood. 'So? Should I feel glad now? Sympathy for the vampire hunter?' Damon asked. Stefan stared at his brother intently. 'Did you forget the vampire hunter _we_ knew?' Stefan asked.

Damon inhaled a sharp breath and realized who Stefan was talking about. Alaric! Alaric, who probably was alive now. It reminded him of Isobel, Alaric's wife. _Wait, if I wasn't there to turn her into a vampire, then who was?_ Damon wondered. He shook his head and decided that that would come later. First, Elena and her vampire hunting father.

'Just tell him that you care about Elena and that you've been protecting her for the last year and a half.' Stefan said calmly. 'You won't even be lying.' he pointed out. Damon sighed. 'Yes, but he thinks I've only met her today. _Elena_ has met me only today.' he didn't know what to do with this situation. In the old future, he had never met Elena's parents. Not her adoptive parents, anyway. He'd met John and Isobel.

His phone buzzed and Damon grabbed it without even glancing at the screen. The message had come from a number Damon knew better than anything: Elena. He scanned the message quickly and then threw his phone back on the couch. 'That was Elena.' Damon said, frowning at Stefan. 'Her parents invited me for a dinner party, tomorrow night.' he finished.

'Oh, oh. Our history of dinner parties isn't so good.' Stefan said with a small smirk. Damon shook his head and had already decided that he'd go. 'There's a dress code, too. Formal clothing. I guess I have to start looking for that tuxedo. Again.' he said, thinking of the times he'd worn that thing. He'd worn it to the Mikealson ball, to Jenna's funeral… No good things ever came from wearing that tux.

Stefan grinned and threw the newspaper at his brother. Damon pulled it apart and threw the pieces back. 'I was reading that!' Stefan said with mocked disbelief. Damon smirked and crossed his arms over his chest and sat back. 'Well, you know that the things you throw at your brother end up in two pieces.' he snickered.

His brother rolled his green eyes. 'Let's just hope you keep Elena in one piece.' he said intently, with a hidden threat in his tone. Damon's smirk faded away and he nodded. 'That's a promise, brother.' he said with a nod. Stefan nodded back, looking relieved. Damon sighed. 'I do have to make her stop drinking. Who knew that she was such an alcoholic before her parents died?' Damon pondered.

A knock on the door alerted the two brothers. 'Elena?' Stefan asked confused. Damon shook his head and listened. 'No. Someone much worse.' he said while he walked toward the door. He opened it a small crack and peeked around.

'Damon Salvatore.' an all too familiar voice said. Her black hair and pale skin were just the same as in the old future. 'I've come to ask you a favour.' Isobel Gilbert said. Damon opened the door to let her in.

'So, do you even know that your child is the doppelgänger?' Damon asked her a few minutes later. She'd told the brothers about her research of vampires and, as Damon had expected, wanted to become one herself. Isobel shook her head. 'I haven't seen her since I gave birth.'

For someone who'd driven three hours to get to Mystic Falls, Isobel was nicely dressed. Her hair was brushed back on her back and she was wearing casual light coloured jeans with black sandals. A purple blouse topped it off. Damon studied her and wondered if he should turn her into a vampire, again. In the old future, Isobel had hardly been a liability to them. Apart from that one time when she'd kidnapped Elena, but Elena hadn't been hurt. Physically at least.

'Have you ever heard about Originals, Isobel?' Damon asked while he leaned forward curiously. Isobel's eyes widened a little and she thought about it before she nodded. 'Yes. They're supposed to be the first vampires. But… according to my research, they aren't.' Isobel said with hesitation.

The Salvatore brothers exchanged worried glances and Damon sat back. 'Who are the first vampires, then?' Damon asked, faking confusion. Isobel looked from one brother to another. 'The records of you and your brother go back to _before_ the Originals. You and your brother are the first vampires. And Damon, you're the oldest. Which makes you the most powerful vampire on Earth.'

A deafening silence followed. Damon and Stefan stared at each other for a few seconds. Yes, Damon had been the first one to get shot by their father, Guiseppe Salvatore, but Stefan had been the first one to complete the transition. Damon had wanted to let himself die. But Damon had been born first, he was a bastard child.

'I'll do it.' Damon said with a nod to Isobel. The mortal heart of Elena's biological mother sped up and she had a hard time to hide her excitement. She smiled and Damon gave her a smirk back. Stefan looked from his brother to Isobel, obviously not believing it. 'But keep in mind that you'll be part of _my_ bloodline. If I die, you die.' Damon warned her.

Isobel nodded. 'Dually noted.' she said. Damon nodded and motioned for her to go down to the basement. The freezer was stocked with more than enough blood bags, varying in blood types. Downstairs Isobel was becoming more and more nervous. Damon could hear her heart, it was beating in an almost impossible speed.

'Damon, please stay away from my daughter. I don't want her to get hurt.' Isobel said once Damon had come after her. Damon grimaced and felt pain going through his heart. 'It's a little too late for that. I'll be going to her house tomorrow for a dinner party. Grayson the vampire slayer will probably try to kill me.' Damon said sarcastically. Isobel smiled. 'I hear it's best for me to get out of town as quickly as possible.' she said.

Damon nodded in agreement and bit his wrist. It was strange to see a human willingly drink vampire blood, let alone _his_ blood. With Stefan, the goody goody who saved lives, he could understand it. But Damon didn't save lives, he _ended_ them. _Yeah, maybe one and a half year ago._ Damon thought to himself. 'Ready to die?' Damon asked Isobel mockingly. She nodded and before she could realize what was happening, Damon had broken her neck.

He waited for her to wake up and threw a blood bag in her direction. When she was done, she stood up and was about to dash out. 'Wait!' Damon called, Isobel turned around and eyed him curiously. 'Yes?' she asked sweetly. He rolled his eyes. 'Do you know of someone named Katherine Pierce?' Damon asked desperately.

Isobel annoyed him by thinking about it, but eventually she nodded. 'Katherine Pierce. The doppelgänger before my daughter. Yes, I've heard about her. She goes with the Originals.'

* * *

_The sun is filling up the room  
And I can hear you dreaming  
Do you feel the way I do right now?  
I wish we would just give up  
Cause the best part is falling  
Call it anything but love_

_And I will make sure to keep my distance_  
_Say "I love you" when you're not listening_  
_How long can we keep this up?_


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello readers,**

**A quick shout-out to: … No-one reviewed this time? Please do review this time, otherwise I strangely feel like nobody's reading my story and when I think that, I'll stop because I don't want to 'bother' people with things they don't read anyway. **

**So, we've reached chapter four. Or actually chapter five if you count the prologue. Enjoy reading, people! I really enjoy writing Grayson and Damon's interactions with each other. **

**Song featured: No song this time, sorry guys!**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Four**

'So, dinner party, huh?' Stefan asked his brother with his trademark stern tone, which Damon liked to refer to as "I pretend I'm not hurt, but please, ask me what's wrong!". Of course, he never told Stefan that, but he liked to think about it. Damon nodded and attempted, for what felt like the 300th time, to straighten his tie. The bloody thing just wouldn't cooperate.

'Need a little help with that?' Stefan asked innocently. Damon rolled his eyes and straightened his shoulders. 'I have no idea what you're talking about.' he said in a fake oblivious tone, his expression mocked confusion. Stefan smirked and shook his head. 'Found a vampire yet that we can try to compel?' Stefan asked suddenly.

Damon swore loudly and kicked the table-leg. 'I _knew_ that I was forgetting something when I turned Isobel!' he groaned. Stefan laughed and bowed to take a closer look at the table-leg, that had been damaged beyond reanimation. He actually imagined a 'bleep' sound at the thought and his smirk got wider. 'Go, you can't keep them waiting.' Stefan said, just when Damon was about to inform his brother about using compulsion on Elena when her eyes were closed.

His brother nodded and smirked back. 'Nope,' he said, popping the p. 'There's no way in hell I can keep vamp slaying daddy waiting.' he said in an attempt to be humorous. Stefan rolled his eyes and pushed Damon toward the door.

Damon walked toward his car and started the engine. He turned the volume of the radio up, so loud that it could be heard faintly outside even with the doors closed. He rolled down the windows and drove away in a speed that was too high, even for a small peaceful town like Mystic Falls.

He wondered where Caroline was. He suddenly realized that he hadn't thought about Caroline after he'd met Elena. For the fourth time, if he counted every single time that he'd met. He guiltily thought back of the times that he'd compelled her to forget. Way more times than just those two times that he'd met her.

Shaking his head, he chased the thoughts away and listened to the music. Something about a teenage dream. Damon rolled his eyes, but turned the volume up some more. When he arrived at the Gilbert house, the front door opened, revealing Elena. Damon quickly turned the volume down and got out of the car.

'Check this out.' Damon said promising while he held his keys up. Like many modern cars, he could lock it remotely. The car made a sound that all expensive-car-owners loved and the headlights blinked two times. Elena laughed and raised an eyebrow. 'Are you trying to impress me with your car?' she asked suspiciously.

Damon smirked and titled his head to the side. 'Maybe I am, or maybe I am not.' he said mischievously. Elena raised both of her eyebrows at his reply and opened the door widely for him. Her eyes went to his collarbone and frowned. 'Need help with your tie?' she laughed. Damon was about to say 'no', but Elena straightened his tie anyway. 'Thanks.' Damon said with a smile. 'Come on in.' she said, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. _Does she know? _Damon wondered to himself. He shrugged and walked into the Gilbert house.

'You can hang your jacket on the hallstand.' Elena said, gesturing to his black leather jacket. _Biologic _leather. But Damon only wore it because it was more durable. _Sure, keep telling yourself that._ a little voice in the back of his mind snickered. _Or you can just admit that you care for the environment_. the voice said again. Damon suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at himself and hung his jacket on the hallstand. The jacket had been a last-minute choice. It was a bit cold outside and even though it didn't bother him, he had to keep up his appearance.

Elena grabbed his hand and _frolicked _into the living room. _What's up with her? _Damon wondered, but he was too afraid to ask. Maybe she'd had a great make-out session with her boyfriend, or something like that. Or maybe she was drunk, that was a possibility as well. Damon almost tripped over the threshold into the dining room. It was Elena who kept him from falling to his face.

_Since when do I feel nervous when I'm about to meet parents?_ Damon wondered. The truth was, that in all his years, Damon had never met his girlfriend's parents. Not even Katherine's. And they were _Elena's_ parents. If Damon didn't want to have to sneak into Elena's room at night, he'd have to impress them.

_Sneak into Elena's room at night? What am I thinking about?_ Damon thought to himself. He became even more nervous. Elena introduced him to her parents, Miranda and Grayson and Damon shook their hands confidently. They seemed a bit surprised when he held out his hand and Damon realized that Grayson hadn't been keeping secrets from his wife. Grayson even frowned when Damon's eyes kept going from Elena to Grayson nervously.

They probably didn't believe that vampires had feelings. _Ha, you'd be surprised!_ Damon thought to himself and he couldn't keep back a smile. Luckily, he was shaking Jenna's hand when he smiled, so it looked like he was really pleased to meet her. Grayson was wearing a black tux, that looked way newer than the one Damon was wearing. Miranda wore a lavender coloured cocktail dress, similar to Jenna's.

Jenna was dressed in a red cocktail dress that fit her hair and made her eyes look more fiery. While Elena was dressed in a low-cut strapless white dress, that hardly went over her thighs. Damon blinked and could barely keep his head at the dinner party. He smiled at Elena and pulled back her chair. Elena giggled. 'Thank you, Damon.' she said when he shoved her chair toward the table.

Damon didn't look at Grayson and Miranda when he sat down. 'Would you like some coffee, Damon? Elena can make it.' Grayson asked after a few seconds of silence had passed. Damon nodded. 'Of course.' he said politely. If Elena would make it, the coffee would most likely be clean. Meaning, there would be no traces of vervain.

For a few seconds Damon wondered if vervain would still do damage to him and his brother. They were older than the Originals, after all. The strange thing was that Damon didn't feel more powerful than before. Elena shoved back her chair and went into the kitchen to make coffee. When she returned and placed a mug in front of him, Damon smelled at it suspiciously.

Elena saw it and laughed. 'It's just black coffee, Damon. Do you want milk or sugar?' she asked with a big smirk. She obviously thought that he was acting a bit strange. Damon forced a smile and asked for milk. He carefully poured three teaspoons of milk into his coffee and stirred it slowly. Grayson eyed him suspiciously and a bit smug, while Miranda looked at him over her mug worriedly.

_Ha, at least I won her over._ Damon thought while he lifted the mug to his lips. 'Cheers.' he said smugly to everyone at the table. He took a sip and tasted vervain. He frowned and swallowed the mouthful of coffee and took another sip. After that, he put the mug down and smirked at Grayson and Miranda.

Grayson's eyes widened for just a second, but he composed himself quickly. Miranda looked from her husband to Damon in confusion. He could almost hear their thoughts echoing through the room. "_I thought you told me that he was a vampire!" and "It's impossible, he should've been crawling over the floor right now!" _he had to try very hard to prevent himself from snickering at the thought.

'So, Damon,' Grayson said while they were eating their appetizers. 'Tell me, what do you like to in your free time?' Damon took his time to think about the question. _I drink the blood of innocent women and girls, like your daughter, in my free time. No wait… I spent my free time raiding hospitals for their blood bags. Uhm, no. Oh, I know, I spent my free time meeting your daughter over and over again because I love her! _ Damon took a sip of coffee to hide his huge grin.

'I hunt.' Damon said eventually, giving nothing away about what he hunted. Elena frowned and studied him curiously. 'Do you mean that you shoot innocent, defenceless animals for fun?' she asked suspiciously. Damon gave her an innocent smile. _No, Elena, I hunt humans_. he thought, slightly amused. 'You're the one talking. You're eating lamb right now.' Damon pointed out, pointing at her dish with his fork.

Elena rolled her eyes. 'That's different. They're already dead. You _kill_ them.' she argued. Damon noticed that Grayson followed their conversation like a tennis game: his eyes darted from his daughter to Damon each time one of them spoke. She sounded so much like the old Elena that Damon wanted to keep this conversation go on forever.

'Elena, I've had many talks with vegetarians,' Damon said patiently. He actually hadn't, but he didn't care. Elena frowned at him, but remained silent. 'Even though you're not one of them, you should know that a conversation like that can never be won by either of them. Because they both think they're right.' in the back of his mind he thought about his brother and himself. When Elena had drowned, they'd had countless of fights about what the best way of being a vampire was. Of course, all those fights were proved pointless when Elena decided that she wanted to die.

Jenna nodded in agreement and announced that it was time for wine. She got tall wine glasses from the cabinet and poured a generous amount of red wine into each of the glasses. Damon smelled the liquid in his glass and took a small sip, the alcohol burned his throat, but it was nothing compared to a good Bourbon. 'Do you like red wine, Damon?' Grayson asked innocently.

Damon knew the catch behind the question: it sounded more like Grayson was asking him about blood, even though he'd passed the vervain test. He shrugged and put his glass down. 'I'm more of a Bourbon man.' he said, at the same time when Elena said: 'He likes Bourbon more.' They looked at each other and laughed. For the first time that day, Damon saw actual sympathy in Elena's brown eyes.

'A good man should like wine.' Grayson said on a tone sounded just a bit threatening. Damon pretended to be hurt by putting his hand on his chest. 'Ouch, now I feel offended.' he said with a fake hurt expression. Jenna laughed, but Grayson squinted his eyes at him. Damon sighed and wondered if he could dare to compel Elena's father to like him.

Miranda was looking at him with just a little bit of admiration. Damon gave her a smile and took a sip of his wine. Elena had already gobbled down her glass and when Jenna was about to pour more into it, Damon stole the glass out of her hand and gave her a sweet smile when she glared at him. 'No more for you tonight.' he said sweetly. Elena rolled her eyes at him and pouted, but that just caused him to laugh.

'I met someone new at school today.' Elena said, calling everyone's attention to her. Damon studied her carefully and feared that it had been Stefan, but of course that wasn't possible. As far as Damon knew, Stefan hadn't left the house since they'd arrived, sulking in his self-pity. 'Caroline Williams.' Elena said when no one replied. Damon's eyes widened for a second and when he was Grayson looking intently at him, Damon composed himself.

'She's in my class. She's really nice and asked me if we could hang out at the Grill one day.' Elena continued. Grayson smiled at his daughter and nodded. 'It's great that you made her feel welcome, sweetheart.' he told his daughter kindly. Elena smiled and obviously felt proud of herself. Miranda chuckled and looked at Damon.

'So, Damon, will you be joining school here?' she asked. Damon frowned and thought about what he should say. He decided to just spill the beans, like Caroline always said. He chuckled and straightened his shoulders. 'Actually, I graduated a few years ago. I'm 21.' Damon said. He carefully studied their reactions. Elena frowned, her parents exchanged glances, Jenna snickered behind her wine glass.

Grayson shoved his chair back and stood up. 'Damon, if you wouldn't mind.' he said, as if he wanted to talk to Damon about his age. Damon knew better, Grayson wanted an attempt at killing him. He knew that he would have to compel Elena's father before anyone got hurt. But he was also painfully aware of the vervain that had been in the coffee. He would have to find other means to keep Grayson from attacking him.

Elena's father motioned for him to go to the living room first and stupidly, Damon decided to listen. They both weren't aware that Elena had followed them. Grayson stopped halfway in the living room and put his hands behind his back. 'I don't know how you managed the vervain, _monster_, but I'm not about to let you use my daughter as some kind of toy.' he sneered. Damon took a step back and held up his hands. 'I'm not using Elena as a toy, Grayson.' he tried.

The man glared at him, his eyes were firing daggers toward Damon. 'Don't say my daughter's name!' he shouted. Apparently, the walls were well isolated, because no one came to check on them. Grayson revealed a crossbow, loaded with a wooden stake, the moment that Elena ran forward. 'No!' Damon yelled, but Grayson had already pulled the trigger.

The stake hit Elena square in her chest and she screamed. Her scream ended in a painful groan. 'Oh God!' Grayson whimpered when his daughter fell to his knees. Damon caught her before she could fall on the floor with her chest, which would cause the stake to get buried into her flesh deeper. He pulled the stake out of her chest, but blood kept flowing out of it steadily.

Grayson gasped and stared at Damon with bewildered eyes. 'I didn't mean for this to happen. Do something!' the man pleaded. Damon tilted his head to the side and, even though he knew that it was dangerous, decided that he and Grayson needed to settle some things. 'Just stop hating me. Stop trying to stake me, stop trying to keep me away from Elena.' Damon said.

Elena's father stared at him in disbelief. Damon sighed. 'I've been protecting her for one and a half year now. Other vampires constantly try to attack her, to kill her. She's in good hands.' he said, desperately trying to reason with Grayson. Grayson nodded and before he could ask any more, Damon bit his wrist. He could feel Grayson's eyes on him when he pressed his wrist to Elena's mouth.

'Drink. Just drink and you'll be fine.' he told Elena when she started protesting. He closed his eyes when she swallowed and prayed that he'd never have to feed her his blood again. When the wound closed, Damon sighed and pulled his wrist away. Elena stared up at him in disbelief. Then she stared at her father.

'The stories you used to tell me… they're _true_?' Elena asked in disbelief. Grayson nodded and Elena gasped. Damon expected her to scream or yell at him that he had to leave. Instead of taking her anger out on Damon, she used her father as a target. 'And you just tried to _stake_ Damon? Dad, he's my friend!' she argued. Damon's heart missed a beat and he smiled.

Damon turned Elena around and cupped her cheeks with his hand. 'Elena, look at me. Calm down, please!' he pleaded. Elena took a few deep breaths, but he could still see the anger in her eyes. She was never going to forgive her father for this. Damon took a deep breath and released it again. He really hated using compulsion on Elena. But he had to, even if she had vervain in her system, he still had to try.

'Look at me. You're going to forget this. You're going upstairs and get changed. You got a horrible chest pain, a doctor came to see you, but everything's fine. You won't tell the others about this, because you don't want to scare them. You don't take one second to think about the blood on your dress, it's not there. Do you understand?' he asked. Elena stared up at him, her eyes wide. She swallowed and he could see that there was some kind of a fight going on.

'There was vervain in the coffee. It's not going to work.' Grayson said while he wiped the tears from his eyes. He put the crossbow back in a hidden cabin that blended in with the wall. Damon took a second look at the hidden cabin, sure to remember where the crossbows and stakes were hidden. How Elena had never found out about it, was a mystery to Damon.

'I understand.' Elena said suddenly, sounding as if she'd been hypnotized. Damon nodded and helped her up, even though she had more than enough strength to do so herself. He studied his hands, his wrist was covered in a bit of blood, but because he'd been behind Elena most of the time, there was no blood on his clothes or hands. Grayson handed him a paper towel and he quickly wiped the blood off.

'So, now what?' Damon asked the vampire hunter. Grayson shrugged and looked around. 'Actually, the plan was to kill you and tell Elena everything. I don't know how you compelled her, but I'm very thankful for that. Stay as long as you want to.' he said, surprising Damon greatly. Damon frowned.

'What? Is this another plan, do you want to stake me in my sleep?' Damon asked suspiciously. When Grayson shook his head sincerely, Damon smirked. 'Great! When we've had desert, I'll get some of my stuff.' he said with a smile. Grayson shook his head at the vampire's enthusiasm and turned around to go back to the dining room. Suddenly, he paused and turned around.

'Keep her safe.' Grayson said. Damon nodded silently and smirked. Grayson rolled his eyes. 'Keeping her safe doesn't mean sleeping in the same room, Damon.' Damon snickered and followed him back into the dining room.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hello readers, **

**A quick shout-out to:**

**Don'tstopDANCING: Thank you! I make it up as I write, so sometimes I find myself debating with myself about what should change and what shouldn't. I actually found out that I'd forgotten Jeremy entirely in the last chapter, haha, probably because in season 3, he hardly ever showed up after episode 10. **

**MarieeSalvatorelover: Thank you very much!**

**Did you guys know that Damon's first powers (fog, crow and apparently, flight(?)) were cancelled in early season 1 because they were considered 'too' supernatural? I thought the crow and the fog were cool. In the books Damon shape-shifts into a crow and from what I've read, into a wolf as well. I would love to include that in this story, but I just have no idea how… Some help here, guys? **

**Okay, I initially wanted to stretch Elena's free-spirited time. But, like before, the story just wouldn't let me… **

**Song featured: "Shelter" by Birdy**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Five  
**

Damon had stayed at the Gilbert house for two weeks now. He'd thought of some motel just out of town where he was 'staying' and went back home to get a suitcase full of clothes. They'd stationed him in the guest room, a bold room that had been painted white, with a window that looked out over the backyard. It had a windowsill, just like Elena's room and Damon often found himself sitting there, going through his diaries, bringing up memories.

He'd always made fun of Stefan with his diary, while he himself was guilty of the act. If Stefan would ever find out, Damon would rip him apart into little pieces so that he couldn't spill it to anyone. The top of the window, about twenty inches, was separate and could be opened, letting the scent of the summer invade his little room.

Even though he would never admit it to himself, Damon quite liked it. If he couldn't sleep in Elena's room, he wouldn't mind sleeping here for the entire time that he'd be here. As long as he didn't have to share Jeremy's room, or something like that, Damon would be happy. Something he hadn't been in a long time.

'Damon?' Elena asked him, followed by three knocks on the door. When Damon had asked everyone if they could knock before getting in, he was surprised that Elena had actually listened to him. They would often sit in his room and talk about things, like the doubts about her feelings for Matt. When he'd told Elena that Matt would be fine, he would get over it, Elena had accused him of saying that because he wanted her for himself.

He'd just laughed, even though he had the feeling that they both knew that it was true. He and Elena were getting closer and closer, but Damon remained careful around her. Elena showed great interest in him, though she hadn't tried to kiss him. He hadn't tried to kiss her, he didn't know if he could take another rejection.

'Come in.' he called while he shut his diary and hid it under the bed. He wouldn't want her to see the date 1912 that was on the cover. He grabbed his Blackberry Torch 9800 and pretended that he was scanning through his messages when Elena opened the door. He put the phone down and turned his attention to her. That way she would know that he was interested in only her.

She was dressed in a black top that was cut low and cut-off shorts that barely went over her butt. Black stiletto heels finished her outfit. Damon's mouth dropped open to gape at her and he knew that his eyes must've been as big as platters. Elena laughed nervously and spun around without needing any encouragement to do so. 'How do I look?' she asked with a smirk that split her face.

Damon put his feet down on the ground and looked her over. Her make-up blended in with her skin, nothing too extravagant and Damon was thankful for that. He thought she was more beautiful than those fashion queen girls who had their faces full with thick foundation and eyeshade in neon bright colours.

'You look _a-ma-zing_.' Damon said, splitting the word in three and putting emphasis on every syllable. Elena laughed shyly and held up two tubes of lip-gloss. 'Which one?' she asked curiously while she raised an eyebrow at him daringly. _Is this a test?_ Damon wondered. He studied the tubes and used them as an advantage to stand closer to her.

One of them was pink with a hint of glitters, the other one was a soft red tone. Damon remembered that she'd worn the pink lip-gloss, on the day that he'd told her that she wanted a love that would consume her. _If I tell her to wear the red lip-gloss, will that change things? Will she fall for my brother entirely if I don't compel her this time?_ he wondered while he handed Elena the pink lip-gloss.

Elena smiled and took it from him. 'I thought so already.' she said sweetly, leaving Damon confused as she used her phone screen to put the lip-gloss on. 'You would've put it on anyway, wouldn't you?' Damon asked her while he took a chance and put his hands on her hips, putting his head on her shoulder to look at her lips in the screen reflection.

Elena remained still, though Damon could hear her heart beat. It beat harder and stronger and Damon wished that she would finally begin to have feelings for her. Elena freed herself from his clutch and turned around, there were only three or four inches between them. Damon looked into her brown eyes and began to lean forward, Elena's eyes fluttered close and her lips opened… -

His phone buzzed and Elena jumped back, gasping in surprise. She stared at Damon, he stared back and she whirled around. She left the room, leaving Damon alone with his thoughts. Damon picked up his phone and cursed the one who'd interrupted them in his mind. When he saw that the message was from Stefan, he eased up and wondered what was wrong.

"Problem – Caroline told me the party's tonight, not in two weeks. Should I come?" the text read. Damon sighed. He'd understood what was going on the minute that he'd seen Elena in those clothes. They were the same as one and a half year ago – in the old future, that is. He unblocked his phone and typed back a response.

"Yes. Get Caroline to come too. Wickery Bridge, 24.00. Don't ask, just be there." he sent the message and wondered what he would do now. A car honked outside and when Damon went downstairs he saw Matt standing in the hallway. _Oh no, he's driving her. They'll get into a fight and then…_ he thought as he quickly descended the last steps.

'Hey Matt, I can drive you.' Damon offered with a smirk on his face. He couldn't compel Matt with Elena around and her parents were standing in the living room, that could be seen from the hallway. Grayson made eye-contact with him and Damon nodded. He obviously wanted Damon to follow them.

_As if I hadn't planned that already_. Damon thought while he rolled his eyes. They all waved at Elena and Matt, as if they were one big, happy family. When Matt's car had left their sight, Damon waited for five minutes and got into his own car. Jenna followed him and stepped into his car. Damon raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

The engine roared when Damon pushed the gas pedal down as far as it would go. He was desperately trying to think of something he could do. He couldn't even remember what way the party was, last time he'd been there had been one and a half year ago. He squinted his eyes and finally recognized the headlights of Matt's car. The air in his lungs was released, Damon hadn't even realized that he'd been holding his breath.

'Why are you so protective about Elena, vampy?' Jenna asked while she put on lip-gloss using the rear-view mirror, something that annoyed Damon to no end. Damon rolled his eyes and wondered if the entire town knew about the existence of vampires and more specifically, about him. 'I don't know.' Damon said while he rolled his eyes again.

'Oh my God, you love her!' Jenna suddenly yelled. Damon's eyes widened and he stared at Elena's aunt for a few seconds before he remembered to keep his eyes on the road. 'No I don't.' he said nervously, because they both knew that he was lying. Jenna put the rear-view mirror back in its original position and looked at Damon sceptically. 'Hey, it's not a bad thing. Actually, I think it's cool that my cousin has a vamp-bodyguard.' Jenna said innocently.

Damon sighed and slowed down a bit, because he didn't want to take the risk that Matt or Elena would see them. 'Why are you coming with me anyway?' he asked suspiciously. 'Did Grayson the vampire slayer ask you to keep an eye on me?' the questioned was softened by a mischievous grin that Jenna thought was far from comforting.

Jenna laughed. 'No, I felt like partying tonight.' she said simply, crossing her arms over her chest. Damon knew that he wouldn't be able to get more information from her, not without force. He turned up the radio and to his annoyance, Jenna began singing terribly off-key and _very_ loudly.

'God, I wish Stefan was here.' Damon mumbled under his breath. Normally he hated having Stefan around, especially the self-pitying, self-loathing shadow that his brother had become. He assumed that Elena had been the only thing Stefan was living for. Now that Damon was getting closer and closer to Elena, Stefan had just… stopped.

More than once had Damon almost forcefully shoved blood down Stefan's throat. The one time where Stefan had taken his ring of and was about to expose himself to the sunlight, Damon had been just in time to save his brother. Only just. It had taken Stefan days and a lot of blood bags to recover – something Damon didn't want to repeat.

As a last resort, he'd called Caroline. She'd agreed to babysit the suicidal vampire, she'd even suggested that she could take Elena to see him. Stefan had protested, saying that it was better if Elena and he didn't meet at all. Damon had argued, saying: 'If she finds out through someone else that I have a brother and realizes that I never told her, then what's she going to do, huh? Do you think she'll be _glad_?' even that snap had gotten little reaction from his brother.

'Uh, hello? Earth calls to vamp-boy, we're at the party!' Jenna suddenly said, interrupting his thoughts. Damon blinked and saw that they indeed had reached the parking lot that looked familiar. 'Oh.' he said, a bit shaken that he'd driven God-knows-how-many-miles with his thoughts on a far-away-vacation.

He and Jenna opened their doors. Damon locked the car and enjoyed how random heads turned around to stare at the $100.000 beauty. Jenna rolled her eyes and muttered 'guys' under her breath. Damon laughed and walked away with her on his heels. 'We can't let Elena see us, you know.' Damon said.

He was surprised when Jenna lead him into a thick forest and was even more surprise when he saw a big bonfire in the middle of a clearing. It wouldn't be the first time that a party was thrown in the middle of a forest, hours away from civilization and medical aid, but he cursed them for being so stupid. Didn't the council-member-mommies-and-daddies know better than to let their kids run around unprotected?

Even if they were on vervain, a vampire could still break their necks if they got bored. Damon snickered at his choice of words. 'Unprotected' made him think of kids running around with condoms pulled over their heads, yelling 'I'm protected!' every time they bumped into a vampire. He had to bite his lip to keep himself from going into a laughing fit that he would stay in.

'What's so funny, vamp-boy?' Jenna asked when she caught up with him. Damon studied her out of the corner of his eyes and wondered if he should share his little thought with her. He decided against it and said: 'Oh, I was thinking about having desert here. You know, so many people, so hard to decide who I'm going to eat.' Jenna didn't react like he'd expected her to.

She laughed along with his joke and shook her hair out of her face. A stray strand hit him in his face and he took a step to the side, out of her reach. _What is she thinking? _he wondered. _She knows that I like Elena and she's still… playing with me?_ he shook it off and went to some guy that handed him a plastic cup filled with alcohol. When Damon took a sip, he thought that it was punch with vodka in it and smiled. _Elena's going to like that_. he thought.

_Maybe the alcohol will keep her from fighting with Matt_. he immediately rolled his eyes at the thought. Elena could probably be considered an 'experienced' drinker, even if all she drank was vodka. He looked around the area and finally saw her, standing in the shadow of a tree with Matt. They were laughing and flirting and Matt's hand rested on her hip.

Damon felt a pang of jealousy, but pushed it away quickly. He reminded himself that she'd been about to kiss him just half an hour ago and that meant that she wasn't very faithful. He just hoped that if – _when_ - they would get together, she would stop flirting around. Damon sighed and gobbled down his drink in less time than anyone could blink.

He walked around for a few hours, talking to people, compelling them now and then to find out about the Council activities – some of them had parents that were in on it – but so far, nothing interesting came up. Apart from plans to strengthen the Wickery Bridge's foundation, something which Damon found very interesting to say at least.

Then he heard Jenna scream. People started running around franticly, but when Damon looked around to find Elena, she wasn't there. Matt was no-where to be seen either. He took a second to check the time on his phone, it was 23.30 – they were probably talking about life and future right now. He followed the overwhelming scent of blood and found Jenna laying in a deep hole, too deep for anyone to see her. There was no-one around except for him.

It only took him a second to decide. Damon jumped down and leanly landed next to Jenna. She coughed and when his eyes had gotten used to the darkness around them, he saw that there was blood on her mouth. 'Jenna!' Damon said while he held her up. She began choking on her own blood and in an effort to save her, Damon bit his wrist and fed her his blood.

She protested at first, causing Damon to roll his eyes. 'Why can't anyone ever _willingly_ drink my blood? Does it taste that bad?' he wondered out loud. He waited at least a full minute – that felt like ages – and then took his wrist away from Jenna's mouth. She gasped and breathed in and out quickly, until she finally seemed to calm down.

'You all right?' Damon asked her when she managed to stand. Her legs were still a bit wobbly, but Damon knew that it would have to do. Jenna nodded and looked around. 'I don't know what happened.' she muttered, as if she couldn't believe it herself that she'd fallen down. Damon sighed. 'My guess is that you had a bit too much alcohol, you tripped and hit your head and started coughing up blood. I saved your life.' he said the last sentence smugly, earning a glare from Jenna.

'Thanks. I guess.' Jenna said softly. She looked up and Damon followed her gaze up to the black sky. Stars twinkled above their heads, framed by the walls of the hole that they were in. 'How are we going to get out of here?' Jenna asked hesitatingly, almost as if she knew the answer already.

Damon smirked and grabbed her waist. 'Hold on!' he said before he jumped. Jenna gasped when they landed neatly next to the hole. He released her and she took a trembling step back. Her eyes were wide, as if she only just realized what had happened. Her mouth opened, but she closed it again without saying anything. Damon watched her sadly when she turned around and ran away from him, back to the party.

_I give people my blood to save their lives and they're still afraid of me. _Damon thought sadly. When he checked his phone, he saw that is was midnight and used his vampire speed to reach the parking lot. Elena was standing there, all on her own. She looked sad. Damon felt sorry for her and walked up to her. She started when he touched her shoulder.

'Relax, it's just me.' he said with a smile. Elena nodded and Damon could see that she was fighting tears. 'Did Matt bail on you?' he asked softly, not able to keep the worry out of his voice. Elena nodded and Damon caught her in a tight hug. He heard Elena sob on his shoulder and he felt her body shaking, but when he pulled back and stroked her hair, he didn't see any tears.

'What did you guys fight about?' Damon asked. After a few seconds of hesitation, he added: 'May I ask?' echoing himself from the old future. Elena sniffled and just shrugged. 'Life, future, he's got it all mapped out.' she said sadly. Damon nodded and smiled at her.

'And you don't want it.' he noted, playing the game as it went the last time. Elena shrugged helplessly and sniffled again. 'I don't know what I want.' she said, a bit more determined. Damon smirked at her and put his hands on her shoulders. 'I think you do.' he whispered, loud enough for her to hear, but soft enough for it to feel intimate.

She looked up at him, a hundred emotions in her eyes. 'Tell me, Damon, what is it that I want?' she asked breathlessly. Damon managed a smirk, but he thought it looked more like a grimace. He didn't like the way where this was going, but he couldn't do anything about it, either. He released her shoulders and took a step back.

'You want what everyone wants.' he said slowly. He noted how hurt and tormented his voice sounded and swallowed, but it didn't dissolve the lump in his throat. 'You want a love that _consumes you._ You want _passion_ and _adventure_ and even _a little danger_. he whispered to her. While he was talking, he put his arms on her hips and pulled her closer to him. His eyes never left her eyes and she stared up at him as if she was hypnotized.

_Hypnotized… Oh God, I'm compelling her!_ Damon thought. He felt panic and his eyes widened. But then, he calmed down. Maybe this had been where it had all gone wrong. In the old future, he'd compelled her to find everything that she'd been looking for. He hadn't compelled her to find a consuming love mixed with danger and adventure. Maybe… maybe this was how it was supposed to go. Damon closed his eyes and when he opened them again, Elena looked like herself again.

'Come on, I'll drive us home.' he said softly while he put his arm around her shoulders. Elena shook her head and Damon looked at her in confusion. 'I can't, Damon. I already called my parents to pick me up, about thirty minutes ago. I think they'll be here in a minute.'

Damon felt his heart sped up and knew that there had to be _something_ that he could do. His head worked at full speed. _Think of something.. think of something!_ he urged himself when he ran back to the party to get Jenna. He cursed himself under his breath for not acting quicker. He should've stopped Elena from going to the party. He should've compelled them altogether to let him ride them… anything to keep them away from the Wickery Bridge.

_The Wickery Bridge!_ Damon suddenly thought. He found Jenna and pulled her away from the people that she was talking to, without saying a word. She protested, but he just ignored her. 'Listen,' he said when they were out of Elena's earshot. 'Do everything you can to keep the car away from the Wickery Bridge, okay? I mean it Jenna!' Damon snapped. Jenna's eyes widened at the strength of his compulsion. She nodded and followed him toward the parking lot.

He was blinded by the headlights of Grayson's car and opened the door for Elena. All of his senses were on edge and he knew that Grayson could see it. He and Miranda exchanged worried glances when Damon took his place in the middle seat, with Jenna and Elena next to him. 'Damon-' Grayson began, but Damon shook his head. 'I'll get someone to pick up my car.' he snapped.

Grayson looked at him worriedly, almost as if he willed Damon with his eyes to tell him what was bothering him. He turned the car, in the direction of the bridge, but Damon and Jenna both shouted 'No!' at the same time. Elena's father hit the brakes and the tires squeaked. Jenna shook her head. 'Not the Bridge, Gray.' she said. Grayson frowned and looked at Damon through the rear-view mirror.

'Why not?' he asked worriedly. Elena laughed and shook her head. 'Dad, are you actually going to listen to them? If you don't drive over the Bridge, the ride will be half an hour longer!' she protested. Damon understood her, she probably wanted to get home and lay in her warm bed as quickly as possible, but he just couldn't let that happen yet.

'I trust Damon, sweetheart. And if he thinks I shouldn't take the Bridge, then I won't.' Grayson said in a tone that wouldn't accept protest. Elena slumped back in her seat, crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Damon hardly even noticed, he was too busy looking around, scanning the area for signs of danger or poorly-build roads or rotten trees that could fall on the car.

When they'd been on the road for twenty minutes, Grayson turned up the radio. "About ten minutes ago, the Wickery Bridge collapsed on its foundation. A car submerged into the water, but two witnesses of the accident saved the passengers just in time. The major was already making plans to strengthen the foundation, a plan that evidently came too late…" _blablabla._ Damon thought when Grayson turned down the volume without saying a word.

His nerves didn't calm down and Damon unclicked his seatbelt. Miranda followed his every move and Grayson drove even slower than the speed that was allowed. For a second Damon allowed himself to think that they were all right, that they'd made it.

That was when a truck collided with their car on full speed.

* * *

_Can I be, was I there  
Felt so crystal in the air  
I still want to drown whenever you leave  
Please teach me gently on how to breathe_

_And I'll cross oceans like never before_  
_So you can feel the way I feel it too_  
_And I'll send images back at you_  
_So you can see the way I feel it too_

_Maybe I had said something that was wrong_  
_Can I make it better with the lights turned on?_  
_Maybe I had said something that was wrong_  
_Can I make it better with the lights turned on?_


	7. Chapter 6

**Hello readers,**

**A quick shout-out to: **

**MarieeSalvatorelover: Thank you! This chapter tells you who dies and who lives.**

**All right, I realized that this chapter might be somewhat strange. I feel like it's similar to what happened in the books (Elena being a ghost and talking to them) but well, I hardly ever re-write things. Because what I write, is what comes from my heart. A big cliché, I know. But if I change it, it wouldn't feel like it comes from **_**me**_**. And it gave me a way to include the crow! **

**Please, do tell me if you like it!**

**I could've done those paragraphs in italic, but because it was so much and it actually **_**happens**_** (it's not a dream or a hallucination, nor a memory) I decided against it.**

**Oh and, could anyone tell me why Damon's birth-date is ironic? According to Wiki Answers, Damon was born on October 31th, making him 170 in the show (the first season was set in 2010, right?) instead of the 165… or something that he and his brother are said to be in the show. Whoever put it on Wiki Answers says: Ironic, huh? What happened on that day to make it so ironic?**

**Have fun reading, people!**

**Song featured: "Devotion" by Hurts  
**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Six**

Over the past few weeks, Damon and Grayson had become friends. Not friends like his friendship with Ric had been: Grayson didn't drink much, just a beer and a glass of wine now and then and he certainly didn't know as much about vampires as Ric had. But it had been a relief for Damon to have Grayson around. It worked like ice on a burn wound, a blister, for the grieve over his dead best friend.

That wasn't what Damon was thinking about when the front of the truck shoved into the small car that didn't stand a chance. Pieces of metal, wood and gasoline invaded the car when he shot out of his seat and wrapped his body around Elena's as best as possible given the situation. Elena screamed when there was a loud crash around them, but Damon barely even heard it.

What he did hear was a gargling sound that came from Jenna. When he turned his head in her direction, he turned it back immediately. She was barely recognizable. Blood dripped over her skin, from what he could see, her legs had hung to her body by a thread. A sharp piece of metal had been driven into her chest. He didn't even think about turning his head so that he could look at Grayson and Miranda. The absence of their heartbeats said enough.

'Damon?' Elena asked in a tiny voice that was dead-frightened. Damon blinked and felt something warm streaming over his back. If he'd stayed on his seat, a flat piece of wood would've decapitated him. 'Yes?' he asked hoarsely, he had to blink again to keep his focus on Elena. She was extremely pale and she was trembling all over, but he couldn't see any real, life-threatening injuries.

'There are pieces of metal sticking out of your shoulder and stomach.' she said, as if she was afraid that he would die right in front of her. 'Oh.' Damon muttered, while he bowed his head. There was indeed metal sticking out of his stomach, it's sharp point just inches away from Elena's stomach. When he tried to move his head to look at his shoulders, he couldn't.

'Don't worry, I don't feel it.' he reassured her. His eyes darted over the scene that the accident had caused. As far as he could hear, there was no living creature around. No-one that could get them out of here. No-one to call for help. Damon released the breath that he'd been holding and realized that he had to do something before he would bleed out and turn into a mummy right in front of Elena.

The square that he felt pressuring against his thigh told him that his phone was still in his pocket. He wondered if it would still work, but it was worth a try. 'Elena,' he said slowly, looking into her eyes for signs of shock. Elena looked up at him and nodded, her lips trembling. She was blinking almost every second, as if she had to try hard to keep her head in the present time.

'My phone is in my pocket. Take it out and call 911.' he said hoarsely. He began feeling feverish and realized that he was losing _too _much blood. He felt his fangs ache and he knew that they were long and sharp, like daggers. He felt Elena's hand sliding over his leg toward his pocket. In a normal situation, where they weren't trapped in a totalled car, he would've found that movement a turn on. Right now he just hoped that his phone was still functioning.

She found the phone and pulled it out of his pocket. Her hands were trembling. When she unblocked the screen, her face looked even paler. 'What's the code?' she asked him, panicking just a bit. Damon stared at her, he knew that he would have to open his mouth to reply. She would see his fangs. He wondered why she hadn't screamed yet, or was she too in shock to see the veins under his eyes?

'5555.' He said quickly, opening his mouth as little as possible. Elena's eyes widened, but were quickly cast on the screen again. He heard the click when the phone unblocked and, once again, released the breath that he'd been holding. Elena tapped on the keys and brought the phone to her ear. She gasped and pulled it away as if it had burned her.

'No reception!' she said. The panic and adrenaline were really kicking in now, Damon could tell that from the way her pupils acted. Her breathing increased and he could hear the blood streaming through her veins, faster and faster. Not to mention the strong smell of adrenaline that hung around her, like honey to a hungry bear.

When he heard Jenna gasp, his head snapped toward her direction. He watched as she pushed the metal away that had sliced into her legs in a reflex. He heard flesh, muscle and veins knitting together, a sound that he found sickening. 'What happened?' Jenna asked with wide eyes.

Damon sighed and shook his head. 'Jenna, listen to me.' he said. His tone was serious enough for Jenna to stare at him. He stared back at her intently. 'I know what you're feeling. I know what you're going through, it's confusing and overwhelming. But right now you _have_ to listen to me if you want us all to get out of this alive.' he said.

Jenna nodded and her eyes fluttered to Elena. Damon didn't follow her glance, though he wanted to check on how she was holding it together. He feared that if he did, he would lose control and savage her like a mad dog. 'Put your hand on the door, between the window and the handle.' he instructed. Jenna's hand slid over the door, to the handle and above that. Damon nodded at her encouragingly. 'Now push. Push until you heard it crack, until it falls out of the car.' he said.

He felt immensely relieved when fresh air blew through the car. The weight that Jenna had put against the door caused her to fall out of the car. Her hand clawed at the leather of her seat as she pulled herself up. 'So now what?' she asked, obviously struggling to gain her composure. Jenna frowned and swallowed heavily. Damon could see the range of emotions go over her face.

'Now you open our door.' Damon said, while he put his hand against the seat next to Elena's head for support. He felt his veins rub like they were filled with dry sand. He could barely move his fingers when he tried. Elena stared up at him worriedly, but he managed a smile. A smile that was more of a grimace, he assumed when he saw Elena's expression. 'Damon, it's going to be okay.' Elena said.

She stretched out her hand and caressed the skin beneath his eyes. _No Elena, don't do that._ Damon thought, but he lacked the strength to say it out loud. _You don't know what you're dealing with. You know nothing about me._ Her fingers moved toward his cheekbones and down over his cheeks. They lightly touched his chin and went to the other side of his face. Somehow, in a way Damon couldn't begin to understand, her touch comforted him and helped him find the strength to control himself.

Still, when Jenna ripped their door from the car, he could barely wait before Elena had crawled out. His fingers dug into the leather of the seat when he slowly wiggled himself free of the metal pieces. Now that Elena was safe and the adrenaline was fading away, he felt every single inch of flesh that had been sliced in two by the metal. It hurt, _a lot_. But he knew that when they were gone, his wounds would heal and that gave him the strength to keep going.

He fell out of the car, head-first onto the asphalt, with a sound that was a mix of a groan and a whimper. The wounds on his back burned and from what he could feel, they only healed halfway. He knew that he needed blood, _human_ blood, to heal fully. Jenna needed blood to complete the transition. But he also knew that he wouldn't take it from Elena, he couldn't bring himself to it even if it would save his life.

'Damon!' Elena yelled at him before he blacked out. When he opened his eyes again, blue and red lights coloured Elena's frame. She was still yelling at him frantically, but the sirens deafened him. When she saw that he'd opened his eyes, she looked immensely relieved. He saw a machine that they were using to cut away the car's roof.

In the shadows of the trees, he saw the silhouettes of Stefan and Caroline. A flash of red and blue lighted their faces. Stefan's expression was overtaken by sorrow and guilt. Caroline looked like she was hurting, but she managed a small smile. Damon found the strength to mouth: 'Go!' to them and they both disappeared into the shadows.

The shadows and a white fog that had seemed to come out nowhere swirled toward him. When they touched his skin, his skin felt cool and he could feel the wounds knitting together, healing. He didn't understand what was happening, but Elena and Jenna were gone. So were the ambulance and the car, even the _road_ was gone.

He looked around, but saw nothing but fog and shadows. _Am I dying?_ he wondered to himself. But vampires didn't die from blood loss. They died by fire, decapitation, a stake through their heart, a werewolf bite… and this wasn't anything like the werewolf bite. The only thing that he could come up with was that someone, or something or perhaps even just the universe, didn't want him to hurt as much as he did now.

He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, Bonnie was crouching in front of him. 'Bonnie.' Damon croaked. Talking hurt. His wounds had healed, but his veins were still empty and his mouth felt like a desert. Bonnie smiled at him and offered her his wrist. Without thinking, Damon bit down and sighed in relief when the sweet, moist blood flowed through his mouth and throat.

When he let go, he slowly got up on his feet and frowned at her. 'Is this real?' he asked, looking around at the mysterious white fog and the lingering shadows. 'Or am I just imagining this?' he asked slowly, studying the witch closely. She didn't look like the Bonnie that was Elena's friend right now. She wasn't as innocent as before. He could feel darkness swirling around her, it worked as a pressure against his skin.

Bonnie shook her head slowly and her eyes bore into his. 'This is real, Damon. The witches sent me to save you. You weren't dying, but people were about to find out what you are. You were so weak that you wouldn't have been able to fight back.' she said. Her voice sounded strange, tight, like Stefan's "I'm-pretending-to-be-evil-and-not-care" voice, only _real_.

'They sent me to heal you, but apparently some other force was quicker than me.' _Thank God, _Damon thought to himself. _I don't want to know what evil-Bonnie could've done to me_. Bonnie's expression became a twisted grimace and Damon took a step back. Another step, followed by another and another. It didn't matter, no matter how many steps Damon took, he didn't find himself distanced from the witch.

'Be careful Damon. I can read your mind here, you know. Every thought you've ever had is _mine_ in this place. You know where we are, Damon?' she asked, her tone threatening. Damon shook his head and prepared to lunge at Bonnie. Before he could even move a muscle, his head was pounding and his brains were exploding. 'I told you, I know your every move.' Bonnie said, mocking a cheerful tone.

'We are at the Other Side, Damon.' she said. The words 'Other Side' caused Damon's head to snap up. He looked around. In the old future, he'd heard Rose saying something about the Other Side, with all the other ghosts that hadn't found peace, but alone at the same time. To his disbelief, Rose had said that she'd liked where she was. 'Everyone from the old future is. But not for long, because we don't like this. Elena hates you for it, you know?' Bonnie asked, cocking her head to the side.

Damon swallowed heavily and tried to keep himself from trembling when he heard _her_ name. 'Elena?' he asked softly, frightened and trembling. Bonnie nodded and disappeared in a swirl of fog and darkness. He was blinded by an incredible white light that forced his eyes to shut and when he opened them again, _she _stood before him.

He took a step back, but reached out his hand to touch her at the same time. She was _his_ Elena: breathing, healthy and mortal. But his actions in the this future had evidently destroyed the old future, along with everyone they'd ever known. When his fingers touched her cheek, he felt electricity and jumped back as if he'd been burned.

'_Damon!_' she gasped. To Damon's surprise, her tone wasn't hateful or revengeful. No, she sounded light and happy. He dared to look up into her eyes and saw only acceptance and the unconditional love that they both shared. She ran and Damon caught her in his arms. He laid his head on her shoulder and breathed in her scent. The scent of summer and her peach-shampoo and roses…

'Bonnie said you hated me.' Damon whispered into her ear. He could feel her shake her head and obeyed when she forced him to look at her. 'No, that's not true. Damon, _Bonnie_ is the one who trapped us in the Other Side.' Elena stressed every single word and Damon frowned.

'How did she do _that_?' he asked, his frown still there and his tone sceptical, as if he couldn't believe that Bonnie had enough power to do so. Perhaps a blind spot like Emily Bennett would've had enough power, but Bonnie.. most definitely not. Elena sighed and teardrops descended down her cheeks like a waterfall. Damon wiped them away gently and pressed a kiss on her forehead.

Elena took a deep breath and Damon could feel her reluctance. Whatever it was that had caused this, she didn't want to tell him. 'You can tell me, Elena. Whatever it is, I won't judge Bonnie, or anyone.' he reassured her. Elena sighed and cast her eyes downward. Damon followed her glance and saw a completely different world beneath his feet. He saw swirling energies and shadows, fog… In every colour imaginable, he saw energies that pulsated, sliced through each other, taking on different forms in the process.

'What's that?' he asked, to distract Elena. She smiled up at him. 'We don't know. Rose thinks that it are souls. My mother thinks that it are spirits that have found peace.' she said softly. Damon wondered if she meant her biological mother, or Isobel. Damon's guess was on Isobel, because Miranda and Grayson just _couldn't_ be on the Other Side. Their deaths had happened way before this all and they'd most likely found peace, knowing that their daughter was in good hands. _Stefan's_ hands.

_Rose._ Damon closed his eyes and allowed all the guilt to consume him for a few seconds. Elena's fingers trailed his face, along his cheekbones and cheeks and down to his neck. She laid her left hand, palm open, on his heart and they both listened to the thudding of his heartbeat.

Elena leaned forward and pressed her lips on his. Damon gasped when light and power consumed his entire being. Through his closed eyes, he saw swirling energies, patterns, light. He felt an incredible burning through his veins, but it felt more like liquid starlight was being pumped into his heart. When Elena pulled back, she smiled. 'A gift from me.' she said when he opened his mouth to ask something.

She turned around and walked away, her hair flowing out behind her like she was walking through a summer breeze. 'Wait!' he yelled and she looked over her shoulder and gave him a kind smile. 'Yes?' she asked him sweetly. Damon took a second to think about what he was going to ask, it could be anything, as long as it would stall their time a little longer.

'What did Rose say about us?' left his mouth suddenly. Damon closed his mouth, bewildered. He hadn't even been about to ask that and still he did. It was as if a foreign power had forced him to say those words. Elena smirked and her eyes twinkled in delight. 'She said that she was rooting for us. And that you were either the best thing for me, or the worst.'

Suddenly, there was a lot of distance between them. Damon ran after her, but he found that he wasn't gaining on her. 'No!' he shouted when a flash from the sky split the horizon. The light faded, taking Elena's light and being with it. Damon was left alone and he fell to his knees, crying and yelling for her to come back.

When he realized that he was still on the Other Side, completely alone and abandoned, he got up and looked around. There was nothing but fog and shadows. One of the shadows floated toward him and when it was mere inches apart, it shifted into the form of a raven. _No, not a raven._ Damon thought. _A crow, it's a crow_. He frowned and wondered what it was doing here.

It brought forward the memory of the crow that he'd controlled when he and Elena had only just met. It had died when Damon had escaped the cell that Stefan had locked him in, but even then, Damon had felt kind of sad about it.

Even though Damon referred to it as a shadow, the shadow wasn't dark. It vibrated in a clear white colour and radiated warmth and comfort. He found himself compelled to touch it and reached out his hand. When crow and hand collided, Damon felt a fire going through his body. He gasped when the crow melted into his skin and realized that he and the crow were _one_. He was the crow and the crow was him.

Damon closed his eyes with a ridiculous wide grin on his face. When he opened them, he looked into the worried face of no-one other than Meredith Fell.

* * *

_Here's hoping_  
_ You'll help me to resist_

_ Devotion save me now_  
_ I don't wanna stray from the hallowed ground_  
_ I'll turn temptation down_  
_ I'm asking you to take me to safety this time_

_ Devotion, Devotion..._  
_ I'm a slave unto the mercy of your love_  
_ For so long, I've been so wrong_  
_ I could never live without you_

_ Devotion, Devotion_  
_ Take me to safety_

* * *

**A/N: Can anyone guess that Elena's gift to Damon was? I can tell you it wasn't the crow. Does anyone have any ideas of what powers I could give Damon and Stefan, with them being the actual first vampires?**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello readers,**

**A quick shout-out to:**

**Vivianafrancesca: Thank you! I know, I wondered if it was correct to turn Jenna into a vampire this early. But I just can't imagine Jenna as an unknowing human anymore and I wished that they'd let her be a vampire for a bit longer on the show. And Jeremy… he's been kind of behind the screens in this story. In this chapter, Damon says that he's barely seen Jeremy because he's hardly ever home. **

**MarieeSalvatorelover: Thank you! It's a bit hard to explain, Bonnie's situation. **_**Alaric**_** ended up doing some pretty messed up stuff, but he himself wasn't evil, right? Just wait and see to find out if Bonnie's the same…**

**So, this chapter is more of a writing exercise than for fun. I decided I needed a bit of change. I'll be focusing mostly on emotions, though. I find a book or story that has well developed and expressed emotions better than a story with more detailed graphic details. **

**All the medical terms and information comes straight from Wikipedia, so excuse me if anything isn't correct. I do not have a medical education…**

**Song featured: "All I need" by Within Temptation (…dance scene!)**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Seven**

When Damon Salvatore 'woke up', he hadn't expected to see Meredith Fell. He hadn't expected to see her anytime soon, because last time she'd shown up, it had been after Jenna had died and around the time that Ric had gone psycho. Considering that they'd first suspected her of being psycho, it was downright ironic that Ric had ended up having a split personality.

That was why he felt surprised to see her there. Even more surprising was that Jenna was laying in the hospital bed next to him, sprawled out on her stomach, flipping through a fashion magazine as if her brother and sister-in-law hadn't just died in an accident that had condemned her to a life that would last forever.

His expression must have been questioning enough for Meredith to take the time to answer. 'She… turned her feelings off.' the doctor said with a tight tone. Damon nodded and got up, he found out that he wasn't hurting anymore: his muscles even seemed to work smoother, he felt lighter as if an incredible weight had just fallen off his shoulders. He knew why. They'd made it. He and Elena, at least. She was still alive, even if that meant that her parents had died.

The next thing that he realized was that Jenna had completed the transition. Vampires couldn't turn their feelings off when they still had to go through the process. He closed his eyes for a second, glad that there was one thing that he didn't have to worry about.

'So, you gave us quite a scare.' Meredith said while she put some syringes in the sink. Damon let his eyes dart through the room. It was a private room with two beds, the walls had been painted in a lime green colour. There were no windows, except for the window in the wooden door, which had closed blinds in front of it. The absence of a corded phone also told Damon that this room was probably in a section of the hospital that wasn't very public.

'Where's Elena?' Damon asked while he put his feet on the floor. 'No, lie down!' Meredith said while she rushed toward him and put her hand on his chest to urge him back into the bed. Even though Meredith's pressure felt like she could as well be swatting at a fly, Damon obeyed and stretched out his legs. _Thank God I'm on in one of those ugly hospital-gowns. _Damon thought while he rolled his eyes at his ripped shirt. _Otherwise _someone_ would be dead_.

Meredith grabbed a syringe and four tubes. Damon already knew what she was going to do before she stuck the syringe into his skin and attached the first tube. He rolled his eyes at her. 'You know, there's a thing called "asking"?' he asked while the first tube filled up. Meredith didn't reply as she switched the tube for the next one.

'Yes, but I don't think you would've agreed.' Meredith pointed out, something that Damon thought wasn't true. He shook his head. 'You can have all the blood you want, as long as you keep Elena safe.' he said, something which obviously surprised the doctor. She frowned at him and switched tubes again. Damon barely noticed anything about the blood-drawing. 'What's so special about Elena? Other than the fact that she just lost her parents and that you almost cut yourself in half to save her life.' Meredith asked innocently.

Damon stretched his arm and made a fist when Meredith removed the syringe. He studied Jenna so that he wouldn't have to answer just yet. Unfortunately, Jenna saw that he was looking at her and smirked, baring her fangs at him. Damon squinted at her, but her smirk only became wider. 'Do you want to tell her, or should I?' Jenna asked daringly.

He rolled his eyes and turned back to Meredith. 'I love her.' he said matter-of-factly. Meredith's head snapped back to him and she shook her head. 'A bad guy like you? No way!' she said while she shook her head stubbornly. Damon smirked. 'I'm telling the truth.' he said while he held up his hands in a hopeless gesture.

'Elena stayed here for a few hours. I gave her a sedative so that she got some sleep. When she was sleeping, someone named Stefan Salvatore came looking for her.' Meredith began. Damon felt his heart speed up and tried hard to keep the panic away. Meredith saw his expression and laughed. 'Don't worry. He only was here for three minutes or so and she was asleep. He asked me to not tell her.' she reassured him.

_What the hell happened to make her so nice? _Damon wondered, until he remembered. Logan Fell _hadn't_ happened. Logan was Meredith's cousin and had been turned into a vampire by Anna's blood. As far as Damon knew, the tomb vampires weren't in the tomb, so Anna didn't have to come here to look for her mother.

Damon nodded and got up from the bed. While he'd been thinking, Meredith had put his blood on a slide of glass and, he assumed, was looking at it under a microscope. 'What are you doing?' he asked while he walked toward her. He looked over her shoulder, but of course couldn't see anything but his blood on a slide.

Meredith remained silent for so long that Damon worried that he'd caught some kind of strange illness that only applied to the 'original' vampires. 'Fascinating. Your blood just… the red blood-cells are dividing so quickly that I wonder why you even drink blood.' she said finally. She looked at Damon and Damon stared back at her.

'Let me see.' he demanded. He peered down and sure enough, cells were dividing. He hadn't had a medical education, so Damon didn't know what this meant. He had an idea, though. His body was making its own blood, rather than taking it from others. Did that mean that he wouldn't have to drink blood anymore?

Apparently, Meredith had the same question, because she rummaged through what looked like a mini-fridge. She took a tube that was filled with blood. Damon guessed that it was human blood. When she dropped some on the slide, she peered down quickly and gasped. 'What?' Damon asked and when she didn't reply, he asked '_What_?' again.

The doctor shook her head and frowned at him. 'You could supply electricity to the entire town with this thing.' she said. Normally, Damon would've felt offended for someone calling his blood a 'thing', but this time he was just confused. 'Why, what does it do?' he asked, more curious than a few minutes ago.

Meredith frowned and pursed her lips. 'Actually, I'm not really sure. Erythrocyte activity has gone from fast to incredibly fast. Wait…' she grabbed a small syringe and filled it with his blood, then put it in some kind of small machine on a table. _Does she have an entire lab in here?_ Damon wondered to himself. Jenna was eyeing them curiously from her hospital bed, but Damon barely noticed.

When the thing stopped spinning, Meredith took some paper that came out of it. She studied it and frowned. 'Apparently you have an overdoses of iron, myoglobin and luminol.' she said doubtfully. Damon leaned forward and frowned. 'In English, please? What's _erythro_-whatever, myoglobin and luminol?' he asked intently.

She laughed. 'Sorry, I forgot not everyone has had an education like me.' she said, still grinning at him. 'Are you making fun of my non-existent medical education? Ouch, I feel offended.' Damon said on a mock hurt tone. He had to admit that the thought caused him to snicker inwardly. '_Erythrocytes _are red blood-cells.' she explained, emphasizing every syllable of the foreign-sounding word.

'I really hope you know what iron is, or else everyone in Elementary would be smarter than you.' Meredith said with a smirk on her face. Damon rolled his eyes at her. _Yep, definitely mocking me_. 'I know what iron is.' he said annoyed. Jenna snickered, but he just ignored her. 'Myoglobin is a protein that binds iron and oxygen to the muscles. In other words, it helps your muscles to function.' she said matter-of-factly. Damon just frowned at her and willed her to get to the point.

'I should've expected it. You're a vampire, of course your body makes more myoglobin.' she explained, more to herself than to him. He rolled his eyes. 'Luminol is something we've only just discovered. Just, still being plenty of years ago, but young in the medical world. It's a chemical component that glows bright blue when it reacts with an activator, such as iron or salt. I'm surprised you're not glowing like a neon sign.' Meredith said while she lifted an eyebrow at him.

Damon rolled his eyes yet again and motioned for her to get to the point. 'So, that means…?' he dragged on the last word, only for the sake of annoying her. To his surprise, Jenna was the one who spoke up. 'It means, vamp-boy, that you're the vampire equivalent of Spider-Man.' he sighed and had to strain himself to _not_ roll his eyes again. He was doing that way too much, for his own liking.

Meredith nodded and scanned through the paper again. 'Jenna's right. It means that you should be stronger than _any_ vampire on the world. I think it also means that you either _don't_ have to drink blood, or that you're fine with much less than other vampires. But if you do, you would become much stronger. And glow in the dark.' Meredith snickered and Damon sighed, a poor substitute for rolling his eyes.

'I want to run a few more tests, but for now I'm good. I'll call you when I need more blood.' Meredith told him, as if he'd already agreed with her. He began to nod, until he suddenly realized something. 'Wait a minute, how did you get my number?' he asked suspiciously. He couldn't have a human doctor stalking him. Meredith smiled at him and held up her hands. 'Relax, I asked Elena for it.' she reassured him.

Damon sighed in relief, she was not stalking him. He nodded in agreement and couldn't hold back a laugh at her relief and enthusiasm. 'I bet you also have a lot of fibrinogen.' Meredith assumed out loud. He raised an eyebrow at her and halted her when she was about to explain what it was exactly. 'Wait, let me guess…' Damon said, drawing out the silence while he pretended to think.

Meredith looked at him expectantly. 'Fibrinogen is some kind of protein or fibre or whatever that gets wounds to knit together.' he said doubtfully. He wasn't really sure about it, because he'd skipped most part of his college campus education. He'd always hated the medical classes, they were so boring, with the teachers throwing foreign terms and words around his ears…

The doctor shook her head and smiled apologetically at him. 'No. You were close, though. It's a soluble plasma glycoprotein that is converted into fibrin by thrombin.' Damon frowned at the words and thought: _Definitely college again. I wonder if she's been taking classes at the same college._ He nodded, though, as if he understood what she was saying. '_Fibrin_ is the is the protein that is involved with coagulation. Blood-clotting.' she explain when Damon just shook his head at her with an enormous frown on his face.

'Blood-clotting. Right. Happens extremely fast for vampires. So would that mean that I'm, like, invincible or something?' he asked mockingly at her. Both of Meredith's eyebrows went up and she looked at him doubtfully. 'No one's invincible, Damon. Not even vampires.' she said convinced. Damon had to agree with her on that one, he'd seen it first-handed.

'You two can go now. Don't tell anyone about what I'm doing, though. I have equipment at home, I'll proceed the tests there.' she warned them. Damon and Jenna both nodded and he was relieved that they could leave. Fresh air was exactly the thing that he needed. The sun was already rising and when Damon checked his phone, he saw that it was five in the morning.

He took Jenna by the arm, but even though they were in a crowded hospital, she didn't slip or flinch once. Damon wondered how that was possible, because she was a young vampire. But, considering his awkward situation with the lack of a bloodline and the strange components in his blood, Damon guessed that it had something to do with it.

Jenna unlocked the door and Damon expected her foot to get stuck against the invisible barrier. To his surprise, Jenna stepped over the threshold and held the door open for him. Damon followed her, slightly bewildered and looked at her with a hundred questions in his mind. Jenna saw it and laughed. 'I think Grayson and Miranda put the house in my name. In their will.' she explained when they came into the living room.

Jeremy sat on the couch, his eyes puffy and red. Damon sighed and realized that he and Jenna had _a lot_ of explaining to do. But right now, he felt too tired to say anything. He just nodded at Jeremy and the kid nodded back, his face pale and his hair one big mess. They'd met a few weeks ago, the day after the disaster dinner party, but Damon had forgotten all about him because he was hardly home.

'Elena's upstairs.' Jeremy choked out. Damon nodded and glanced at Jenna, he wouldn't leave her alone with him before he knew that she was in control. Jenna stared back at him intently and he felt busted. She smiled at him. 'Just go, I'll be fine. I'm more worried about Elena than I am about myself.' she whispered, soft enough for only him to hear.

'Don't tell him anything before I'm back.' Damon warned her. Jenna nodded and sat down next to Jeremy, giving him a big hug. He could see how she turned her emotions on, because he saw her shoulders shock and he could hear their combined sobs. He turned his head away and headed upstairs. He lingered on the stairs and dreaded for what was waiting for him in Elena's room.

He could already hear her broken sobs. Her voice was hoarse and he swallowed past the lump that had formed in his throat. He felt immensely sorry for her and wondered if he was to blame for her parents' deaths. If they had just driven over the bridge, then Caroline and Stefan could've saved her parents and he could've gotten Elena out.

Since Jenna had had his blood into his system, she wouldn't have been the biggest priority, even though he felt guilty for unintentionally turning her into a vampire. He did wonder how she flipped the switch, just like that. He had never been able to do it that smoothly and Stefan had been struggling with it his entire vampire life. In the old future, at least.

_There's nothing I can do about it now._ Damon thought to himself. _The past is the past, I can't change anything about it._ Ironically, the past could be changed. He'd just done it himself. Kind of. He shook his head and forced himself to admit that he was stalling. He jumped over the last few steps and was surprised at how _light_ he felt. He felt like he could just take off into the sky, like a bird. _Like a crow._ he thought.

He was about to knock on Elena's door when he saw that it was already opened a tiny crack. Still, he knocked before he opened it widely. He peeked around the door and was met by Elena's face: still wearing blood-stained clothes, eyes red and swollen, lips trembling and tears that were yet to be spilled in her eyes.

Without asking for permission, he entered her room and sat down on the edge of the bed, his weight pressed down the mattress. He put his elbows on his legs and rested his head in his hands, waiting for her to say something. Nothing came. All she did was sob heartbreakingly and sniffle now and then.

Damon looked around the room and saw a package of Kleenex. He snatched it from her nightstand and offered it to her. Elena sniffled and took one, followed by her trumpeting it full. In any other situation, Damon would've found the sound comical, but now, he couldn't laugh about it.

'Hey, are you OK?' he asked her insecurely. The second after the question had left his lips, he wanted to slap himself. _Genius, Salvatore. Her parents just died, of course she's not OK!_ Like said, Elena shook her head and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest. Tears fell on his ripped shirt, but he didn't care. He just held her, stroked her hair and remained silent. Soothing words weren't going to help now, they would only make it worse.

He rested his head on hers and waited. Finally, after what felt like hours, but only had been five minutes, the sobbing stopped. Elena sniffled, grabbed another Kleenex and dried her face. She met Damon's crystal blue eyes with her own doe brown ones. He was surprised: he didn't see any fear, only a sheer determination that he didn't understand.

Her expression frightened him slightly, she looked so much like his Elena. He knew that he should stop calling her that, because the old Elena was trapped in the Other Side. He would never get her back. Not without potentially destroying this future as well. Damon sighed.

'If you want me to leave, I understand.' Damon said. When Elena remained silent, he swallowed heavily and got up. He only got to one step when Elena's hand wrapped itself around his to pull him back. He was too surprised to do anything, the back of his knees bumped against the bed, causing him to fall over on his back.

Elena kept holding his hand when she laid next to him and rolled on her side. Damon did the same and the two just stared at each other. She reached out her hand and caressed his cheek again. He swallowed and wasn't sure what to do. Here she was, Elena Gilbert, knowing what he was and still not afraid of him. She ran her finger over his upper lip and he felt it tingle. When her finger slid to his bottom lip, he just couldn't take it anymore.

Her hair got entangled in his hand. His other hand was on the back of her head, pressing her firmly toward him. Their lips met and Damon felt a consuming warmth going through both of them. He let go of her hair and used his elbow to give a little push, so that he rolled on top of her. Her arms snaked around his neck and Damon put his arms around her waist tightly. Their tongues danced with each other, but not in a fight for domination. When Elena folded her legs around his waist, Damon was going crazy.

He pressed soft kisses on her lips and cheeks, down to her chin and her jawline. She gasped and his lips slid toward her neck, nibbling softly on the soft skin. The sounds she made pleased and amused him and he growl softly from his throat. He felt his fangs sharped and when they collided with her skin, he jumped back at a speed that surprised even him.

His shoulder collided with the doorpost and he cringed at the pain that went through it. He stared at Elena, his eyes wide. He was still panting and his lips felt swollen from the kisses that they'd shared. His mouth was opened, he was gaping widely at her without realizing it. The skin under his eyes tightened, he knew that the veins stood out evidently against the pale skin. His fangs throbbed as well. Elena straightened herself on the bed slowly, shook back her hair and looked at him with an unreadable expression.

Damon could only think one thing, one word: _Shit_.

* * *

_I've tried many times but nothing was real  
Make it fade away  
Don't break me down  
I want to believe that this is for real  
Save me from my fear  
Don't tear me down_

_Don't tear me down_  
_For all I need_  
_Make my heart a better place_

_Don't tear me down_  
_For all I need_  
_Make my heart a better place_  
_Give me something I can believe_  
_Don't tear it down_  
_What's left of me_  
_Make my heart a better place_  
_Make my heart a better place_


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello readers,**

**A quick shout-out to: **

**Vivianafrancesca: Thank you! Yes, Damon can shift into a crow. He doesn't know it yet, though… and it won't just come falling out of the sky for him, either. I'll have some fun with that. We'll see plenty of Klaus later on, don't worry!**

**DelenasLovatic: Thank you! I'm very pleased with the make-out session myself, haha. It'll be explained in this chapter… be prepared!**

**I'm not sure, but I think someone said that they didn't understand Damon's powers in a review, but I can't find that review anymore. The things that were said in the story, about the excessive iron-production, myoglobin and luminol and such, those weren't powers. See it as a genetic modification, due to the shock of the time-travelling. Even if these aren't strictly genetic. :)**

**Featured song: "Turn to Stone" Ingrid Michaelson**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Eight **

Damon was on top of her in less than a second. He pinned her down firmly on the bed, his fangs bared, his eyes a dark shadow of what they once were. A feral growl exited his mouth and her eyes widened in fear, _real_ fear. _Good._ Damon thought while hatred coursed through his veins like alcohol on an empty stomach. '_Katherine_!' he roared at her. Her mouth fell open and she shook her head, as far as possible in her dangerous situation.

'No. No, Damon. I'm not Katherine!' Elena yelled at him desperately. The way that she yelled the evil bitch's name brought forward a memory of him holding her up against the wall in the Salvatore house. Memories invaded the present time as he blinked in an attempt to clear his head.

'_Damon, you're hurting me! What do you mean, isn't she in the tomb?' Elena said while she looked up at him with true fear in her doe brown eyes. Damon released her and frowned, he felt confused and sluggish, as if he'd been drugged. _'Damon!' she yelled, because he was still hurting her. Her cries did not reach his ears, for he was lost in his distant memories. _Stefan descended the stairs and stared at the two. Damon's hands abruptly fell from Elena's neck to his sides. In a blur, Stefan was up the stairs, with Damon and Elena in his heels. _

Elena struggled against him, but Damon barely noticed. He kept staring at her with unseeing eyes while she began to tremble. _Stefan had Katherine up at her throat against the wall. She clutched his hands and struggled to breath. 'Stefan, stop!' she yelled, but Stefan just growled at her. Damon rolled his eyes, she wasn't going to act herself out of this. 'Stop Stefan, you're hurting me!' she yelled. Damon was about to step forward so that he could break a limb, when he heard laughter coming from behind him. _

_When he turned his head, he saw the amused twinkle in Elena's eyes and realized that it wasn't Elena that was standing behind him. He scowled at her and shoved her out of his way when he walked back into the living room. 'It's getting easier and easier to impersonate you.' Katherine said with a mischievous smirk while she pulled Elena's necklace from around her neck. _

Damon blinked and suddenly found himself back in the present again. For a second, he didn't understand what was going on. Elena was yelling at him, she was squirming underneath him in an attempt to free herself. He shook his head to clear it and suddenly understood what was going on.

He loosened his grip on her, but kept her in her place. His blazing blue eyes were still wide with disbelief when the realization downed on him. They were fixed on her neck, on the small trail of blood that ran down her smooth skin. 'You're a vampire!' he said in disbelief.

Her eyes widened and for one second he saw an absolute fear in them. Seconds later, the fear was replaced by annoyance. Damon couldn't believe it. Had something happened to her after the dinner party? Had she stepped into the bathtub and tripped on her way in? She shook her head firmly, her eyes pleading him to understand her.

'No Damon, I'm not!' she said loudly, as if the volume of her words would convince him. Damon squinted his eyes at her and pushed her back. 'You're lying.' he spat at her and he watched what effect his words had on her. She cringed, as if he'd slapped her. Tears came to her eyes and he felt sorry for her. Immediately after that emotion, he felt betrayed and hurt. Why hadn't she told him? She _had_ finished the transition, right? If she hadn't…

Elena stared back at him, her lips were trembling. She opened her mouth to say something, but it closed again without a sound coming out. She shook her head and closed her eyes for just a second. 'You're wrong.' she said persistently. All the while, she was shaking her head. 'I'm not a vampire. If I'm a vampire, why didn't I just push you off me?'

He blinked. She did have a point with that. Still, his senses hadn't betrayed him. He bowed his head and licked the wound on her neck. Yes, the tang and the scent that vampire blood had were there, definitely. Had she somehow completed the transition without realizing? He lifted his wrist up to her and her eyes followed it nervously, scared. 'Bite.' he ordered tentatively. Part of him wished that she would refuse. Part of him wanted to forget what had just happened.

Elena swallowed heavily. 'Damon-' she began, but Damon pressed her wrist against her lips before she could finish. Her lips parted, Damon felt the moist warmth on his skin and closed his eyes. He didn't want this to happen. He tensed when he felt teeth. Elena bit his skin softly, yet nothing happened. He didn't feel the stinging pain he felt when he bit his own wrist. He didn't feel teeth sharpening, didn't feel them lengthen.

She bit harder, yet still nothing happened. Damon pulled his wrist away and squinted at it. Apart from the little dents that normal teeth made, there were no puncture wounds. Not even any redness or blood. How could it be possible? A girl who's blood tasted and smelled like that of a vampire, yet without fangs? Damon stared at her in wonder and hesitatingly touched the skin underneath her eyes.

He prodded it softly, determined to make _something_ happen. Nothing. Her skin didn't show any reaction to his touch, apart from her heart that sped up and the smell of arousal that hung around them in the air. Damon frowned and brought his wrist to his mouth.

'Damon!' Elena protested, but he'd already bit through the skin. He looked at the blood that streamed out of the wound and grasped Elena at the back of her head, forcing his wrist against her lips. She protested and struggled to free herself, but she evidently didn't possess the vampire strength that he did. He waited, expecting to feel fangs, waiting for her to clutch his wrist in her hands and drink hungrily.

He didn't feel fangs. She just drank unwillingly, trying to pull away every few seconds. When he finally allowed her to pull away, her mouth was moist and covered with his blood. The wound healed faster than possible, even for a vampire, but Damon's eyes remained on her and he didn't see it. She licked her lips and closed her eyes, as if she couldn't believe what he'd just forced her to do.

When she opened her eyes again, they were wide and fearful. Slowly, one finger reached up to touch her lips. 'What… how…' she breathed, she swallowed and evidently tried to make sense out of her entangled thoughts. Damon shook his head, he couldn't help her with whatever it was that she was going to say. All he could do was stare, stare at his love who seemed to be a mix of both vampire and human…

Elena shook her head at him, tears in her eyes. She crawled over the bed, obviously desperate to get away from him. Her foot got entangled in the sheets and a little scream exited her mouth when she saw the ground nearing her. Damon grabbed her shoulder to stop her face from colliding with the ground and pulled her up. His hand remained on her shoulder, ready to stop her if she would make a run for it again.

'Okay. So you're _not_ a vampire. You just smell and taste like one.' Damon said, mainly to convince himself. But he found that he was also believing it, because the biggest part of him didn't want Elena to be a vampire. Not yet, at least. Elena nodded shakily at him. 'Do you know who Katherine is?' he asked her, examining her reaction closely.

'No. I just thought that if I yelled it, you would stop acting so strange.' she said and Damon felt disappointment going through his body. He reminded himself, no matter how painful it was to confront himself, that his Elena was trapped on the Other Side. He would never get her back, no matter how hard he would try.

'Sorry. There's someone who looks a lot like you, you could've been twins. She's a vampire.' Damon explained. Elena nodded, though he still saw questions in her eyes. He sighed and pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly while he took his time to tell her about Katherine, his vampire sire. He left out the part about his brother. He wasn't ready to tell her about Stefan yet. He couldn't trust her actions if she'd meet him now.

Elena asked him about Katherine, so many questions that his head started to spin. After her interrogation, Damon looked out the window and realized that the sun had already come up. At least it distracted her from the death of her parents. Elena got up and walked toward her windowsill to look at the sun. He heard her sniffle and saw her shoulders slump and realized that she was holding back tears.

He approached her and put his arms around her, tugging her toward him firmly. Silent tears cascaded down her cheeks and Damon put his head on her shoulder. The bite mark that he'd made had been healed because of his blood, but he knew that vampire blood didn't heal emotional wounds. 'I'm sorry.' he whispered to her, his voice so soft that he didn't know if she could hear him.

She sighed and nodded, her hair brushing against his cheek and tickling his skin. He pressed soft kissed in the crook of her neck and teased her with his tongue until she laughed. Although it sounded sorrowful, it was still a laugh. Damon smiled to her and she smiled back hesitatingly. He took her hand and pulled her back to the middle of the room. He ran his fingers over her cheekbones and down her chin.

'Change into something comfortable and I'll take you somewhere far away.' Damon whispered into her ear. Elena shuddered at the soft whisper, but she shook her head at the same time. 'Damon, I can't leave Jeremy. Or Jenna. Not after-' she choked on upcoming tears and shook her head sadly. He could see it in her eyes, the desire to pack some stuff, throw on some random clothes and just go. To leave this mess far behind her and to forget it for a while.

Damon sighed and looked down at their joined hands. When he looked back, he eyed her hesitatingly. He knew that he had to careful about what he was going to say. 'Elena,' he began and he swallowed heavily. Elena looked up at him, confusion spreading over her face. 'I can make things easier for you. There's this thing called compulsion… It… I can tell you to accept their deaths and go on with your life and you wouldn't have to deal with the grief anymore.'

He didn't know how to convince her, he didn't know if she would be offended. He didn't even know if he should've offered it. Elena studied him and her lips trembled. 'I would be running away, Damon. I can't run away.' she said helplessly, throwing her hands up in a sign of defeat.

His hands grasped her before she could move away. 'Sometimes, all we can do is run away.' Damon said slowly, his voice trembling and his tone tight. He stared into her eyes, not with the intention to compel her, but to make her understand what he was saying. It was true. Sometimes you just couldn't deal with everything that was happening around you and you needed an escape.

Elena nodded slowly and Damon leaned forward to stare into her eyes. The depths of her chocolate brown eyes were endless when they widened, not knowing what to expect. Damon remembered how he'd compelled her when her eyes had been closed, how he'd compelled her while there was vervain in her system. He focused his entire being on her, his soul, his mind.

She gasped when his silent compulsion hit her with full force. He saw her shudder, he could almost feel the compulsion sweeping through her body and mending her broken heart into one. She closed her eyes and swallowed and when she opened them again, the heartbroken grief was gone. The grief was still there, as it would always take a place of her heart, but it didn't control her anymore.

It wasn't unbearable anymore. She nodded at him and caught him in a tight embrace, whispering thank you over and over again. Damon stroked her brown hair tenderly and pressed kisses on her lips, her neck, her earlobes. When he pulled back, she eyed him with a fiery determination. Damon smiled, knowing what was going to come.

'Take me far away.' she ordered him with a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

* * *

Half an hour later, Elena was holding a crying Jeremy and Jenna was holding them both. Damon smiled sadly at the three grieving people that were huddled together on the couch. He announced that he was going home, something that he thought they didn't hear.

He sighed when he exited the house. So much had happened in so little time. He still couldn't understand how Elena's blood could taste and smell like that of a vampire. A vampire that had completed the transition, even. The fact confused and frightened Damon, for he didn't understand how it was possible.

He drove to the Salvatore mansion and when he entered it, he saw his brother laying on the couch. An empty bottle of Bourbon had fallen on the ground, the few remaining drops leaking out on the carpet. Damon picked up the bottle and placed it neatly on the table next to the couch.

Even though he pitied his brother for not getting out and doing something to light up the wish to live, Damon still felt sorry. He grabbed a blanket out of his armchair and put it over his brother, who didn't stir the entire time. Damon would kill anyone who would tease him with it, but he even crouched next to his brother to make sure that he was still breathing.

Stefan was still alive, even though his breath reeked strongly of alcohol. Damon shook his head, swept all of his Bourbon bottles into his arms and carried them into his room. There, he put them in his drawer, neatly in a couple of rows before he closed it. He knew that if Stefan was really in need of the oblivion that the alcohol caused, that his brother would find them no matter what it took.

He grabbed one of the old sport bags that he'd shoved to the back of his closet years ago and started filling it with clothes. A lot of black T-shirts, jeans and other necessities for a trip later, Damon zipped the bag shut and hefted it over one shoulder. He scribbled some words on a note quickly. Seconds later, he closed the front door behind him softly.

The engine of his Fisker Karma roared. He steered with one hand, his other hand tightly clutching the hand of the girl next to him. Elena smiled at them when they passed the "You're Leaving Mystic Falls, thank you for visiting" sign and Damon smiled back. _Thank you for visiting, my ass._ he thought while he eyed the beautiful girl next to him. The girl that, since she'd laid her bag into the trunk of his car and joined him, was his. _Finally._

* * *

_Let's take a better look_  
_Beyond a story book_  
_And learn our souls are all we own_  
_Before we turn to stone_

_Let's go to sleep with clearer heads_  
_And hearts too big to fit our beds_  
_And maybe we won't feel so alone_  
_Before we turn to stone_

* * *

**Just to clear things up:  
Elena's blood, it smelling and tasting like that of a vampire, it will be explained later on.  
'Off screen' Damon and Jenna explained to Jeremy that they were vampires.  
Damon's powers – the powers that Elena gave him - will be shown later on, when I finally thought of some cool powers, that is.  
Damon will find out that he can shift into a crow later on, but not just yet. And not smoothly, either. **


	10. Chapter 9

**Hello readers,**

**A quick shout-out to:**

**Vivianafrancesca: Thank you! Yes, I also feel sorry for Stefan, though I choose to keep him 'off screen' most of the time. I feel like it would become too complicated if Stefan met Elena. And with him being depressed and suicidal, there wouldn't be much to write about expect for his failed suicide attempts and his drunken demeanour. **

**DelenasLovatic: Thank you! It will be explained later on, when Bonnie (the Bonnie from the same future as the 'current' Elena) will get a bigger part in the story. **

**You know, I have this theory about season 4. When it starts with Stelena, Delena fans should rejoice. Why? Because there's no way that 'the pairing' will exist through the entire season. It would be boring, to have Stelena from the beginning, all the way to the end, or Delena. Though Delena would be a bit more fun… hehe. **

**You guys are all going to hate me after this. :p**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Song featured: "Run" by Leona Lewis**

**Before the Worst: Chapter Nine**

* * *

Damon parked the car in front of a lake house. But not just any lake house, for this one looked exceptionally modern, with white plastered walls and an austere white door. Through the car windows, that had been rolled down to allow the booming music to flow out into the air, they could see that the right side of the house had been crafted entirely out of glass. Conveniently, that side was facing the crystal coloured lake, the translucent water showing the shallow bottom.

Behind the house and bordering the lake was a forest with emerald green leaves, hugging around the house almost in a protective manner. The forest was vast and damp, coated in the morning dew. The infinite seeming droplets sparkled in the sunlight like diamonds: the scene amazed Elena and she welcomed the sight.

They'd driven for two days. Damon would take her into towns every time they stopped and one time they'd even come across Denver. He hadn't been able to resist and had arranged them a room in the crappy motel. After compelling someone to give them the best room available, they'd been arranged into a room with an amazing view: they windows looked out over a large field with mountains that seemed to reach out to the sky in the background.

The lights would still flicker now and then, but that was something that Damon couldn't do anything about. Sure, he could've taken it upon himself to fix them, but that would've meant abandoning the beautiful brunette that was accompanying him.

Elena had been shocked when she found out that there room possessed only one double bed. Damon had found this amusing, but also somewhat frightened and had offered to lay on the edge of the bed. She had agreed and had taken her own place at the edge, drifting into sleep after half an hour or so. Damon had stayed awake to study the smooth lines of her faces, her high cheekbones, her chocolate brown hair… And of course not to forget her black top, with _nothing_ under it and her shorts, that barely hid _anything_.

If Damon hadn't been a 160 years or so old, he might not have been able to control himself with her in the same bed, an arm's length away from his reach. But he was and so he spent the rest of the night asleep, until he woke up again by the warmth of a body laying against him. In their sleep, Elena and Damon had slowly moved closer to each other.

Elena's arm laid over his waist, in a grip so tight that Damon wondered if she was ever going to let go. To his silent embarrassment, his right leg was wrapped around Elena's waist, leaving the lower part of his body in a place that was far away from uncomfortable. His lips still moved into a smile at the memory.

He would've sworn that Elena was awake, but he wasn't all too confident about that. Her heart-beat had thudded in a normal, somewhat slow pace that was usual with sleeping humans and her eyes had been closed. She seemed more peaceful than ever before and Damon had decided to just let her sleep, rather than waking her to inform her of their current position.

Later, when the rays of the sun shone straight on his closed eyelids, Damon had woken up alone. 'Wake up, sleepy head!' Elena had laughed at him when she shoved the curtains to open them further. He'd groaned, pulled her pillow over his head and had tried to fall back asleep again with her amazing scent surrounding him.

She'd perched himself on top of him, sideways and had attempted to pull the pillow out of his hands. The pillow had been shredded to pieces by their trial of strength, the feathers flying all over the place, but it had simply amused them. A pillow fight was what followed the events.

Damon got out of the car and opened Elena's door, he flashed her a charming smile when she pulled herself out of the car. Elena smiled back at him in a flirty way and Damon felt his heart skip a beat. He'd decided to make this trip a fun trip without any bad thoughts or memories and so he cherished every smile and kiss that she would privilege him with.

Elena opened the trunk and took out her bags. When Damon had thought of the trip, the initial plan had been to take as little luggage as possible, but girls just wouldn't listen. What on Earth Elena had managed to stuff the bags with, Damon could only guess. He only knew that her bags were new: they reeked the new-leather scent that most people loved, but he hated. Why he hated it, he didn't know. But the scent always reminded him of Stefan, when he'd come back from hunting.

How his brother managed to smell like freshly-bought leather after hunting bunnies, Damon didn't know. But he believed that his brother had always had a weak heart for deer. He grabbed two of Elena's bags in his arms, his own bag balancing unsteadily on his right shoulder. Getting the thing on his shoulder had been a huge achievement, _keeping_ it on his shoulder was close to impossible.

He carried the bags toward the lake house, losing his own bag twice in the process and finally managed to open the door – with the key in his mouth. After dropping the bags, the vampire sped back to the car using his inhuman speed to his advantage – they were in the middle of nowhere, after all and Elena didn't seem to mind – and grabbed three more bags.

He began having unlikely visions of what Elena had brought with her and kept those for himself. With a smug smile plastered to his face and with a mischievous smile, he swept Elena off her feet and carried her inside. She pretended to struggle and he put her down on her feet once they were inside.

'Care for a swim?' he asked her mischievously, his smile somewhat dangerous. Elena's eyes twinkled, until her happy expression faded. 'I didn't bring a bikini with me.' she said slowly, disappointed and a bit embarrassed. Damon's gaze shifted between Elena and the many bags shoved against the wall, pretence shock on his face.

'You've got like a gazillion bags with you and none of them carries a _bikini_?' he asked. He was becoming amused and Elena rolled her brown eyes at him. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. 'I didn't think you'd own a _lake house_ with a _lake_!' Damon threw back his head and laughed, much to her annoyance.

'You didn't think that there would be a lake?' Damon asked in between dry coughs of laughter. His eyebrows were raised and his eyes twinkled with cruel delight. '_Lake-house_? Hellooooo?' he crooned while he waved his hand in front of Elena's eyes. Elena rolled his eyes and slapped his hand away, only to be rewarded with more and louder laughter. The girl sighed and walked away, grabbing her bags in the process.

* * *

Two hours later, while Damon was in the water – _with _swim shorts on – he couldn't help it, he kept on singing "_Lake house, Laaaake houuuse_!_' _Elena, who's legs were the only parts of her body that were in the water, attempted to splash water at him. Damon laughed and ducked underwater, only to find out that the bottom was closer than he'd originally thought. He bumped his head against a rock and the air was forced out of his lungs by the sudden pain. Dark spots danced across his vision as he clawed through the water, trying to remember where the surface was.

He laid sprawled out on the translucent, shimmery floor. Shadows and white energy danced around him and when Damon opened his eyes, he immediately knew where he was. A sigh left his lips and he closed his eyes for a few seconds, letting it all sink in. He didn't think that he was dead – vampires didn't need to breath, though it would stop the blood circulation – but didn't know why he was here either.

'Bonnie?' he called out when he sat up. It didn't jump to his mind to feel uncomfortable in nothing more but swim shorts, but the white energy brushed over his shoulders and his arms, causing goose bumps. He rubbed his forehead with his hand, groaning at the throbbing pain.

'Guess again.' a familiar voice said. Damon's heart leapt, but he kept rubbing his forehead. 'Uhm… Katherine?' Damon asked, eyeing the figure in front of him warily. Her brown hair was flowing freely over her shoulders in lose curls, she was dressed in a short lace dress, all black and jean shorts that ended two inches under the dress.

The girl in front of him laughed and walked toward him. Damon noticed how she walked barefoot and wondered where her shoes had gone off to. When he heard her laugh, a laugh that rippled against his skin like silver bells, he realized his mistake and laughed along.

She pulled him to his feet and caught him in a tight embrace, which he returned just as tightly. He looked around, surveying the shadows and energies around him and finally looked down, at the swirling multi-coloured spectacle beneath their bare feet. When his gaze returned to her, she was smiling widely.

'What am I doing here?' he asked curiously, forgetting all about the other Elena, who probably thought that he'd drowned in the lake. Elena cocked her head to the side and looked at him as if he already knew the answer. 'You chose to come here.' she said shortly, giving no further explanation.

Damon stared at her for a few seconds with his jaw unhinged until he mentally kicked himself. 'So I can get here whenever the hell I want?' he asked, his tone disbelieving. Elena pursed her lips and shook her head slowly. 'No. It's dangerous. If you come too much you might get stuck here.'

'To hell with getting stuck!' he exclaimed, scaring Elena. She jumped, startled by the intensity of his voice. 'If that means I'm stuck here with _you_, then I don't care.' he said determination lacing his voice. Elena shook her head, droplets of tears sparkling in her eyes.

'You can't stay here, Damon. You have to fix this.' she said softly, cupping his cheek with a hand. He laid his hand on her lower arm and stared into her eyes intensely. 'Fix this? What do you mean?' he asked urgently.

Elena swallowed heavily and he could see that she was having trouble with explaining it. 'Spill it.' he said on a lighter tone, trying to comfort her. He caressed the lose curls with his other hand while he waited patiently for her to speak.

'You destroyed the balance of Nature.' she finally said hesitantly. Damon stared at her and then he frowned. The balance of nature had been a great deal to Esther Mikealson, the Original witch that had eventually destroyed his best friend in an attempt to destroy her own family. The vampire hunting Original had almost killed him.

'To repair it, you must unite the two futures. Everyone must have their memories back of what has been forgotten.' she said, her voice was beginning to tremble and her body shook against his hand. Damon grabbed her at the shoulders and shook her. 'Elena, what's going on?' he demanded, yelling harder and harder when she didn't respond.

Her eyes rolled back in their sockets and showed only white. Damon became frantic and started shaking her harder, until he was disturbed by a loud cracking sound. He looked over his shoulder and saw cracks slowly seeping through what he thought was the wall of the Other World. The ceiling burst open and something that he thought was glass rained down on them.

'_Elena_!' he yelled desperately, but she just kept trembling. He mumbled "sorry" under his breath and slapped her, the sound of his hand colliding with her cheek echoed through the other dimension, but it didn't bring her back to the present.

The ground shook and began crumbling away beneath his feet. Damon put Elena's arm around his neck and pulled her into his arms and didn't waste any time: he began running immediately. The Other World was falling apart around them, he jumped over ridges and sharp rocks and got glass in his feet, but he just kept running. Glass rained down on them.

The spiralling energies that had been beneath them began weaving around them. It was as if he was running and yet wasn't putting any distance between them and the Other Side. If he could just get to the end, to whatever it was that brought him here and back every time, then maybe he could take Elena with him.

Elena screamed and when Damon glanced at her, he saw that her skin showed cracks, just like the walls. 'Elena!' he yelled, while he froze in his place. He looked around franticly, but he didn't know what he could do. Finally, he just sat down and cradled her in his arms.

'Da-mon..' she muttered weakly against his shoulder. Damon shook his head and kissed the crook of his neck. 'I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you here.' he said determinately. She protested, but the sound of her voice was drowned out by the sound of the dimension that was falling apart around them.

'_No!_' she cried. Damon stared at her and held her tightly. 'You have to go. _Go_!' she yelled at him. He stared at her and couldn't decide what he was going to do. The cracks in her skin began expanding, it was evident to both of them that she was falling apart. If he stayed there, all he would do was die with her. He didn't get any time to make a decision, because the Other World collapsed.

Enormous shards of glass rained down on them, multiple landed on Elena while others had broken from the ceiling right above him. Dust hid the scene from the eye and when there was only silence left, a black crow soared through the dust, leaving everything that he'd ever lived for behind – forever.

* * *

_I'll sing it one last time for you  
Then we really have to go  
You've been the only thing that's right  
In all I've done_

_And I can barely look at you  
But every single time I do  
I know we'll make it anywhere  
Away from here_

_Light up, light up  
As if you have a choice  
Even if you cannot hear my voice I'll be right beside you, dear_

_Louder, louder  
And we'll run for our lives I can hardly speak, I understand  
Why you can't raise your voice to say_

_To think I might not see those eyes  
Makes it so hard not to cry  
And as we say our long goodbyes  
I nearly do_


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello readers,**

**Sorry for the delay! My school started… I've been busy. I hope you like this chapter (and the cliffhanger), despite the lack of details… It was rushed. **

**Still, I hope you like it! And don't hate me…. Hehe.**

Elena didn't know what to do. By the time she'd gotten Damon out of the water – which had involved a lot of dragging and cursing on her side – it was evident that he wasn't drowning. He hadn't reacted to her pleadings, he hadn't even reacted when she'd slapped him. When she'd opened one of his eyelids, after searching for a pulse and finding it, she'd staggered backward in shock.

His eyes were black. They were just one shade lighter than his pupils, but nonetheless it appeared as if he didn't have pupils. They didn't react to light or movement, they were just mere slits. It was as if Damon was in another world, Elena concluded and the thought brought goose bumps to her skin, as if the idea frightened her.

It was about two hours later when she noticed movement. His fingers twitched, his eyelids fluttered and Elena expected him to regain consciousness quickly. She didn't expect what happened: in front of her own eyes, his skin began to darken and it shifted into feathers. Damon had turned into a crow in front of her and it had frightened her.

The crow had slowly opened its eyes, they were black. Black like a starless sky. He'd cowed and then opened his wings, testing them as if he didn't know how to use them. Then, he'd flapped his wings and landed into a nearby oak tree, that was almost three stories high.

Now, Damon wouldn't come out of his tree. Elena watched him through the window. It had been three days and Elena had spent those three days on her own, eating, watching Damon and watching TV after a few hours. Then, she would watch him again and when it became dark, she would go to bed and start all over again the next day.

She'd called him, yelled at him, had left food on the ground to lure him out, but so far there hadn't been any movement yet. Elena had a plan, but it could be very dangerous for her.

Whenever she was in the state between sleep and being awake, she experienced… strange feelings. Every surface on her body seemed to be electric and on full alert: her skin tightened, as if she was too small to be in it. In her dreams she saw strange things: black mirrors, shattered black material, darkness, voices whispered things to her…

Elena sighed and walked her way into the kitchen. The lake-house kitchen was spacious and light, with white, smooth walls. The countertop was made out of white marble that felt cool and comforting under the palm of her hand. She pulled open one of the drawers and, with trembling hands, took one of the big cutting knifes out of it.

_I'm crazy,_ she thought. _Cutting myself to get a vampire-crow out of the room. What if I was delusional? _she wondered to herself. Elena frowned. If you were delusional, you didn't question your sanity, right? She sighed and shook her head. With the knife in her hand, she opened the sliding door and walked outside.

She walked around the lake until she was five metres away from the tree. When she looked up, she saw the crow sitting on one of the lower branches, still high enough to be well away from her reach.  
Elena took a deep breath and distracted herself with looked at him: Damon was almost twice the size of a normal crow: his feathers reflected the sunlight in the colours of the rainbow, almost glittering.

The crow carefully watched her with one eye, remaining silent as if he was curious as to what would happen. 'If you don't come down now, I'm going to stab myself.' Elena threatened. Damon cowed, but didn't leave the tree.

Elena lifted the knife up in both hands, so that it was on breast-height. One of his wings twitched, but again, he refused to leave his tree. He knew that she was bluffing: there was no way she was going to stab herself in the heart. A small smile came to her lips. _Not the heart, no. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to stab myself at all._

The sword embedded itself into her stomach and Elena gasped. The world started spinning around her and her legs were about to give away, when strong arms caught her. She looked up and looked into blazing blue eyes, surrounding by pale skin. Damon's eyes were wide in shock and panic.

'Do you _want_ to get yourself killed?' he growled at her, before he bit his wrist and forced his blood into her mouth. Elena could do nothing but swallow it. Surprisingly, it didn't taste coppery, like she'd expected it to taste. It tasted sweet, with a tang of… something she couldn't quite name.

She felt her stomach burn, the edges of the wound itched and she heard the sickening sound of skin knitting back together. When Damon finally loosened his grip on her, she thought that she'd gotten enough blood for a week. Damon was overreacting, clearly.

Elena frowned and folded her arms around her stomach, as if she was pregnant and shielding an unborn baby. She wanted to ask Damon why he'd given her so much blood, but his expression caused her to shut her mouth before any words could come out.

His face was filled with rage, his mouth was pulled into a tight but firm line. His eyes were vibrant with an emotion that seemed dangerously close to pure hatred. He grabbed Elena's upper arm and his hold almost caused her bones to crush.

'Damon-' Elena began, but he shook her harshly to cut her off. 'No! You ruined my life, you know that, _'Elena'? _I lost you! Time after time…' Damon seemed to compose himself and swallowed, swallowing words back that had been yet to be uttered.

His eyes widened as he carefully studied her face. Elena didn't understand a thing: why was he saying that he'd lost her over and over again? She tried to remember if they'd known each other before, but she couldn't remember. Had he – or another vampire- used compulsion on her?

Suddenly, she felt the same hatred as he seemed to feel. It all burst out of her at once. 'Because of _you_, I lost my parents! Jenna is a vampire because of _you_! And you just keep on saying sweet words, pretending like it's no-one's fault! Why are you even here? Why don't you just go away and leave me alone?' she snapped.

Damon cringed, as if her words had physically hurt him. At the same time she could see that he was in fact blaming himself for it. He put up his hands, his palms toward her. 'I tried to save them, Elena! They would've drowned!' he told her, loud and clear. Elena shook her head.

'If they'd driven over the bridge, those two witnesses would've saved them. You heard it, on the radio! But no, you told them not to drive over the bridge and they got into a car accident!' she yelled. Damon cringed and paled at the same time. He grabbed her lower arm and drew her closer.

'You don't understand. Those witnesses were there because of _me_. They're vampires, Elena. I told them to go there in case the bridge would collapse, as it did.' Damon paused and swallowed heavily. 'There were too many people in the car. Even we vampires can only get one person out of a car and out of the water at once.' he continued.

Elena shook her head and before she could realize what she was doing, her hand shot out and slapped Damon on his cheek. 'You're _vampires_! You have super-strength, super-speed! You could've dragged the entire _car _out if you'd _wanted_ to!' she yelled.

Damon growled, but didn't hurt her, even though she'd hurt him. 'I lost everything in my _life_ because of _you_. Go away! _Go away!_'

Elena stepped back as if she'd been slapped. Her face lost all colour and her eyes became wide. 'No.' she whispered as she shook her head. 'No, Damon. You don't want me to leave. You _don't_ want me to leave!' she said, sounding more desperate. Damon shook his head.

'You lost me forever, Elena.' Damon said. He didn't sound angry, more cynical, as if this was some kind of cruel, twisted joke. He took one step forward and grabbed her at the shoulders when she wanted to back off. He stared into her eyes intensely and kept her in her place when she understood what he was about to do.

Even though she was struggling, it was easy for Damon to keep her where she was. 'You're going to take my car. You will drive back to your house. Forget meeting me, forget about vampires, except for aunt Jenna. You will never look back at this place and you will never remember me. You will live a nice, human life and you will love Matt. Your love for him will not fade away, no matter what happens.'

He released her. Elena looked up at him, her eyes glazed over and turned around. She walked toward his car without looking back.

Damon felt like his heart had been ripped out. Someone had ripped it out, burned it, crushed it, cut it into a million pieces and then dances on it, mocking him, mocking his love for Elena and mocking his choice to travel back into the past.

He balled his hands into fists and looked out over the lake. The water was crystal clear, it was deep. It was perfect. He ripped his daylight ring from his finger, crushed it with his vampire strength and then, taking a deep breath, stretched out his arm above his head.

He lowered it a little bit. Memories invaded his mind.

'_You want a love that consumes you…'_

'_You lost me forever, Damon.'_

'_I know you love Stefan. And it will always be Stefan, but I love you. You should know that.'_

'_I do.'_

'_We're never getting Stefan back. You know that, do you?'_

'_Then we'll have to let him go.'_

'_I need more time, Damon.'_

'_Take all the time you need, Elena.'_

Damon shook his head to shut the memories out, closed his eyes and threw the ring away. It landed in the middle of the lake and sank to the bottom. There was no way that he could make it there in time, before he would burn. He'd left himself no choice.

Elena was driving in Damon's car in full speed, on the highway. The past few days were a blur in her memory. She was driving too fast, she knew that, but she didn't care. She had her seatbelt on and the popular belief went that this car was filled with airbags and safety measures.

Anger and hatred pulsated through her body. She didn't understand, couldn't remember what she was angry about. Or who all that hate was directed to. All she knew was that she had to get home and never turn back. She wanted to get home fast, to Jenna and Jeremy.

She couldn't remember how aunt Jenna had become a vampire. All she could remember was the car accident and that somehow, she had miraculously survived the accident. She remembered that Jenna had opened the door, but how all those sharp pieces of wood and metal hadn't touched her… her memories gave away at that point.

The ache in her heart just wouldn't stop. And her shirt was covered in blood. She couldn't remember how it had gotten there. Elena sniffled and tried to blink the tears out of her eyes, but more just followed. She was about to slow down and drive at a more reasonable speed when she saw a man standing in the middle of the abandoned road.

Elena Gilbert screamed and jerked the steering wheel to the right. She missed the man barely, but lost control of the car. The tyres screeched and before she knew it, the car was rolling over the asphalt. Elena screamed when her head hit something hard, she heard bones crush and felt warm blood spilling over her skin and then… the world went black.

Nothing happened. Damon felt the sun, warming his skin comfortably. He didn't feel the unbearable, burning pain that he'd felt last time he'd taken his ring off. His skin didn't seem to boil, it didn't blister, it didn't even become red. Damon sighed and went into the lake-house to put on some clothes. Elena hadn't seemed to notice that he'd been naked, because she'd only seen his face.

It had been a long way home, but when he finally opened the door to the Salvatore boarding house, his world was shaken up again. He immediately saw the pile of ashes on the wooden floor. His eyes travelled toward the nearby table, where a long letter and his brother's daylight ring laid.

He jerked the letter off the table and scanned through it briefly, shutting his emotions off in the process. _'I hope that you and Elena have a great future, whether it be forever or for a human lifetime…' _Bla-bla-bla… He growled and tore the thing apart.

It was only then when he saw the man standing in front of the window. The big, stain glass window that normally would've been covered by a thick curtain that blocked out the sun. Damon threw the man on the floor, his hands around the man's throat, his fangs dangerously close to the man's face.

'It's me! Damon, it's me! Alaric Saltzman! You _have_ to remember me!' the man spluttered. Damon loosened his hold around the man's throat and stared at him in disbelief. Then, he released him.

'_Ric_?' Damon asked, disbelief laced in that one, single word. He felt hope blossom up. The hunter/history teacher got up and messaged his throat, that had bruises on it from the pressure. Alaric coughed and tried to model his blonde hair with a hand, but failed. He nodded.

'Yes. I came to your house today, _after_ I visited the school. The headmaster probably thinks I'm crazy by now. He didn't know that I was working there as history teacher, in fact the history class was already taken by Mr. Tanner! He didn't even know who I was!' Alaric said.

Damon rolled his eyes and helped his friend to get up. Alaric's eyes darted to the ashes on the ground and he shook his head. 'Poor Stefan. I swear I didn't know. I would've come here earlier…' he muttered, sounding defeated and somewhat lost.

Damon sighed and turned away. He walked toward the window and pulled the curtains close, draping the room into darkness. He grabbed a full bottle of Bourbon, poured Ric and himself a drink and handed his friend a glass. 'I've got some explaining to do. It's complicated.' he said slowly.

Ric nodded. 'Why don't you begin at the part why nobody seems to remember me?'


	12. Chapter 11

**Hello readers, **

**A big thank-you to everyone who has replied. I really appreciate it! For now I won't do shout-outs, I'll just begin writing since all of you want to find out what has happened. I don't like giving away that little thing at the end of the chapter, but yeah, I guess it just happened.**

**Oh and **_**LenaBV**_** is going to translate my story into Russian! Yay, my story will be in two languages! Haha. **

**Chapter 11**

She was trapped in a peaceful realm of darkness and light: she felt like she was floating high above her body. Every surface of her body tingled and was heated up at the same time, it was as if she was covered by a thick blanket.

Slowly, she became more aware of her surroundings. She heard birds chirping around her, she heard wings flap, she heard leaves of the trees bristle against each other. When she tried to open her eyes, she found out that she was unable to. Caught in desperation, she tried to move a finger, a toe, _anything_, but her body wouldn't obey.

Slowly, her heart began to speed in its lethargic pace. The blood started being pumped through her body again and her lungs were starting to fill up with oxygen-rich air. When she could finally open her eyes, she found herself in someone's car. Her head was strangely positioned against the window, which felt like it had shattered and her hair was sticky with some kind of coppery smelling liquid.

She felt as if she'd been deprived of something. Somehow, someone had taken something away from her. And she felt as if she was missing two important pieces of her heart. Two important components that would mean everything, fix everything. She just couldn't figure out what.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but after about half an hour, she became bored with laying in the car. Her hands found their way to the door and without much effort, pushed it open. Surprisingly, she wasn't surprised or startled.

With a newfound grace and elegance, she climbed out of the car. She stretched her muscles, like a feline and was greeted by a new kind of limberness. She was fascinated by the possibilities of this strange new strength. _I should try to jump._ she thought and without wasting further seconds, she readied herself and jumped.

The asphalt disappeared under her feet and she was greeted by a horizon of emerald coloured trees. She laughed in delight and started running up and down the road, ignoring the wrecked car around her and losing herself in the wonderful feeling of strength and heightened senses.

* * *

'So, when… Elena died,' Damon said, after swallowing heavily. 'I was about to put an end to it. I took a stake out of my drawer and scattered some paper.' he shrugged. 'If I hadn't done that, I would've been a pile of dust now. One of the papers contained a spell that would send us back into the past.' he cocked his head at Ric, who looked at him sceptically.

'So you're saying that we're in the past. I guess I have to believe you, because Mr. Tanner is alive and as annoying as always,' Ric chuckled and Damon snickered. 'But I suppose that also means that Elena is alive.' he said, looking at Damon questioningly.

Damon swallowed and nodded. 'How did you know…' he began, but he was cut off by Ric. 'Come on, Damon. I'm no fool. I _died_. My life was bound to Elena's. So that means that _she_ died, too.'

Damon sighed heavily. 'Rebekah caused their car to drive off the Wickery Bridge. Stefan was there, but the idiot saved Matt instead of Elena. Sure, Elena wanted that, but we all know that we shouldn't listen to _Elena_.' Damon found the strength to laugh at his own little joke.

'She had vampire blood in her system. _My_ blood.' Damon said suddenly, after a few minutes of silence. Alaric's eyes widened and the vampire-hunter stared at his friend. 'Apparently she had a bleeding in her brain and Meredith had to _'help'_ her.' Damon said with a shrug, staring into the translucent liquid in his glass.

'So where is she now? At school?' Alaric asked, but Damon shook his head. 'I did something stupid.' he confessed, which caused Alaric to glare at him.

'Uh-oh. Whenever you do something stupid, it's bad.' the ex-history teacher said. A small smile came to Damon's lips, but it faded quickly, only to be replaced by a grimace. 'Yup. Screwing up Damon-style.' he lifted an eyebrow, causing Ric to chuckle.

'I got angry, afraid and I chased her away. She accused me of causing her parents' death and I accused her of… well, something else. We yelled at each other for a bit and then I compelled her to forget about me and go home.' Damon finished with eyes blinded by tears.

Alaric's face lost all colour. 'And vampire compulsion…' he began.

'Cannot be undone.' Damon finished.

The two men looked at each other sadly, knowing that one of them had made the biggest mistake of his life.

* * *

At the Mikealson mansion, Caroline and Klaus were sitting next to each other, close to a smouldering fireplace. Klaus was enjoying a glass of whisky, while Caroline was rubbing his back softly. They both sat in a silence that was pleasant, not uncomfortable. But the doorbell quickly made an end to that silence.

Caroline jumped up to answer the door, but Klaus pulled her on his lip without spilling any liquid. 'Klaus!' Caroline complained, but she was secretly enjoying it and she knew that he knew that. 'Rebekah will get that, love.' he commented.

Caroline giggled, as she did every time he called her _love_ or _sweetheart_, even though he did so from the moment they'd met. 'All right.' she cried when his hand snaked toward her waist to tickle her feather-lightly.

A few minutes later, a pale head, framed by chocolate brown hair like an aureole poked around the corner. Her chocolate brown eyes were bored and she wore a very short lace dress. Her seven inch high heels suggested that she was ready to go out, but the couple in front of the fireplace knew that she wore them almost every day.

'Isn't one of you going to…' she complained when her heels clicked on the way to the door. Her voice faded away when she distanced herself from the two vampires, only to form a shocked crescendo when she opened the door. '_Door_…?'

The two girls stared at each other. Both a perfect reflection, one in a black dress and the other in jeans and a top that was covered with blood. Both pairs of chocolate coloured eyes were fixed on each other and their hair, although the styling differed, was exactly the same.

'You… look exactly like me.' the girl on the other side of the door said. Her eyes grew wide and she looked young and afraid, Katherine Pierce noted. 'No, dear.' the vampire said smoothly. 'I think it's you who looks like me. I was there first, you know.' she said cheerfully, though her voice sounded arrogant as well.

Suddenly Caroline pushed Katherine out of the way. 'Stupid peasant girl, do you even think?' Katherine snarled at the blonde girl. Caroline lifted her chin up and snorted un-elegantly. 'As a matter of fact, I do think. And I'm sure that I think a lot more than you are capable of, with that little shrunken brain of yours.'

'Ha! That's what you get for compl-' a male's voice said, but it abruptly faded when the owner of the voice saw the girl that stood outside their house. Elena saw more people coming into the hallway, a girl with blonde hair, a man with blonde hair that held the hand of the other girl – Elena suddenly remembered her, she'd seen her right after the car accident – and a woman and a man who clearly were the oldest.

Then, a man in a simple black suit pushed his way through the people in the hall, toward the girl who looked exactly like her. 'Katherine, what did I tell you about being nice?' he asked while he cocked his head to the side.

Elena was about to say something, to apologize, because she'd gotten distracted on the way home and had found herself in front of this house, but the woman with dark blonde hair lifted her hand and all the people in the room were silenced.

'Silence everyone! Go back to doing your business, please. Please, come in, dear.' she spoke friendly to Elena, but Elena felt her skin crawl and was positive that she did not want to enter this house.

The woman seemed to sense her distress and pulled her into the house softly, with a tug of her hand. Elena almost tripped over the doorstep and six hands caught her immediately. 'Uh, thanks.' she muttered when they all moved backward, seemingly a bit surprised by what they'd just done.

To Elena, it was now evident that they were vampires. Apparently they weren't aware that _she_ herself was a vampire as well.

'Come on, dear. I'll show you around in our house.' the woman said and without waiting for an answer, she guided Elena into the house.

During the tour the woman introduced herself and explained Elena about her family. She was Esther, the mother. Her husband was Michael, the man with darker hair. Klaus was the blonde man who'd held the woman's – Caroline's – hand and the man in the suite had been Elijah. Katherine was the woman who looked so much like Elena.

Rebekah was the girl with blonde hair. Klaus and Caroline were married, while Elijah and Katherine were just… together, kind of. 'It's on and off with those two.' Esther said, while she pushed Elena softly into the large kitchen and dining room.

The two other sons, Finn and Kol, were off somewhere. Esther had no idea where they'd gone to, but she knew that Finn had gone to visit his fiancée Sage. 'Those two are you just made for each other, don't you think?' Esther asked Elena when she took a photo frame from the counter. Elena smiled and nodded at the two smiling vampires in the picture.

Elena couldn't remember why she'd felt so afraid, so reluctant to enter the house. It was large and filled with light and even though it was crowded, everyone had their own personal space. One room was filled with detailed and delicate paintings and drawings. Elena wondered who'd drawn those.

The second floor was next. When Esther guided her up the stairs, the uncomfortable feeling returned in Elena. All her instincts told her to flee, but she couldn't. Not with the firm hand on her lower arm, silently forcing her to keep moving.

When they entered the first room, her feelings were confirmed when Esther locked the door behind them. The room was dark, but Elena's eyes quickly got used to it. It was filled with pots and bowls, bottles with herbs and strange liquids and bottles that looked like they were filled with blood.

Esther took a pale white herb out of one of the bottles and with a gesture of her hand, it began smouldering. She waved it around, especially around the door and the only window in the room, that had been shaded. 'There,' she said, while she put the herb into a bowl. 'No vampires can eavesdrop us now.' she said with a smile.

The smile was supposed to be friendly, but to Elena it was just creepy and sinister. Elena backed away when Esther advanced on her, until she bumped against the table behind her and could not go further. 'Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you.' Esther said with a sinister smile.

'It's just a shame that the illusion on the line of doppelgänger blood wasn't enough to fool your stupid Salvatore love-triangle.' Esther complained. Elena frowned. _Salvatore love-triangle_? she wondered. Damon's last name was Salvatore. But as far as she knew, he didn't have a brother.

'Oh yes, he does have a brother, you know. The brother who's pierced a stake through his heart because you loved Damon and not him.' Esther said with a smile that revealed her sharp fangs.

'How can you…' Elena began to ask. 'Be a vampire and a witch?' Esther suggested. She smirked. 'A little bit of dark magic woven into the spell to turn myself into an Original and it was very easy… Dark magic has always been the strongest in our family and you know you friend, Bonnie?'

'She is my descendant. Just like Emily Bennett, the blind spot. The darkness was most radiant inside her, but she refused to let it out. So I placed all that darkness into Sheila's granddaughter and Abbie's daughter.'

Elena gasped. Bonnie's grandmother was named Sheila. The little Bonnie knew about her mother, was that her name was Abbie.

Esther smiled. 'Yes, Bonnie Bennett is my torch-holder of dark magic.'

* * *

Damon and Alaric were just discussing how to get everyone to remember the past when Damon's phone buzzed. He rolled his eyes and took it out of his pocket. _'I have your girlfriend. If you want her to complete the transition and live, come to the Mikealson Mansion. Alone, or she dies.' _

His eyes grew wide and he could feel all the colour leaving his face. 'Damon?' Alaric asked curiously. When Damon didn't reply, Alaric became more frantic. 'Damon!' he yelled, but the vampire wouldn't react. Alaric snatched the phone out of his hand and read the message. 'Complete the…' Alaric said, looking up at Damon.

He looked back at the phone. 'So what are we going to do?' Alaric asked Damon. '_We_ are not going to do anything. _I _am going to go to the Mikealson mansion and _you_ are going to do… well, whatever. Something that doesn't kill you.' Damon said, while he rolled his eyes.

Alaric got up and glared at Damon. 'You know that I'm not going to let you go there on your own.' he said firmly. Damon rolled his eyes and smiled grimly. 'I know. That's why I'm going to lock the door. If I'm not back in a few hours… well, things can't have gone pretty then.'

The vampire-hunter glared at his friend as he left the house and, evidently, locked the door. When he was sure that Damon was gone, he grabbed his phone and began dialling the number. He regretted fooling Damon, but it had been necessary.

'Yes, he bought it. He's in trouble. Mikealson mansion, _right now_, Salvatore.'


	13. Chapter 12

**Hello everyone,**

**A big thank you to everyone who reviewed! The story is almost over, just two or three more chapters... This was slightly rushed, because I wanted to update before the weekend was over. I hope you still like it and aren't too confused. Please help me, by telling me the loose ends, the things you want to have explained, so that I remember _what_ to explain in the chapters!  
**

**Oh and just one question: Could everyone who's reading this story, read my one-shot "A living angel", please? It's not really about Elena, but if I decide to continue it, it _will_ be about Elena.**

**Chapter 12:  
**

It took Damon three hours to get to the Mikealson mansion. He would've gone immediately, but the problem was that he didn't have any white oak stakes. He started pondering about where he could find the rare wood, obviously the big white oak tree that had existed when the Mikealson's had been turned, didn't exist anymore. He couldn't believe that they were stupid enough to let it stand there and grow.

He couldn't convince mayor Lockwood to 'lend' him the Wickery Bridge sign and he couldn't cut off one of the beams in broad daylight either. Even when he told him about vampires, Originals, that were immune to the regular wooden stakes and could only be killed by white oak stakes, the man still wouldn't budge.

Eventually Damon left the mayor. Hopelessly, he began looking through the papers in his wallet, vaguely remembering something about the wood that had been used to make his car. It was just a small, almost non-existent hope that the wood would be white oak, but it was enough for him.

One of the papers floated to the ground and Damon caught it, frustrated and almost deprived of any hope of finding Elena and making it out alive. On the paper, it said all that Damon needed to know: _Type of wood used: White Oak Ash_.

* * *

Two hours later, Damon had found another Fisker Karma Ecosport (which had been hard enough on its own), compelled the owner to 'lend' it to him and totally wrecked it to free the sparse wood. It was just enough to make six stakes of about seven inches and three stakes of five inches. This time, there would be no need to worry about Klaus or the rest of the family and their bloodlines, because Damon wasn't a part of that bloodline anymore. He had his own bloodline.

If _he_ would fail and die, however, both Jenna and Elena would die. Or at least he expected that to happen, if the worst scenario would take place. He was afraid, that he was sure of, but not for himself. No, the fear that whirled around in his stomach had more to do with Elena and her uncompleted transition. He knew that newly created vampires had at least 24 hours to complete the transition, but who was to say if it was the same with his blood?

Damon sighed and hid the stakes everywhere he could. He stuck two of the smaller stakes into his boots, two went under his shirt, pressing against his back. The other two were hidden under his sleeves and the last one, he shoved into his pocket, just in case he needed a spare one.

Armed and ready to save Elena (again), he patted his clothes and checked himself in the reflection in the window of the nearby shop, to see if there were any visible signs of the stakes that he had hidden on himself. When he was pleased with his work, he gave the stake in his pocket one last pat and carefully put on his leather jacket. The jacket barely concealed the stake-formed bump in his pocket, but he couldn't worry about it anymore.

Damon sighed and looked at the time on his phone. Elena had approximately 21 hours left before her bodily functions would start to shut down. More than enough time to barge into a vampire-infested house and kill them all.

He was about to throw the door out of its hinges when he realized that it was better to just knock and surprise whoever would open the door. He knocked and waited impatiently until the _click-clack_ of high heels would reach the door. The door opened and Damon lifted his stake, his fangs bared and his eyes showing his fury and hatred…

And lowered it. '_Katherine_?' he asked, not able to shun the disbelief out of his voice. The woman in the black, lace dress that was way too short looked at Damon questioningly. She didn't even seem to notice the stake, or she ignored it if she did. She lifted one eyebrow at Damon's appearance and smirked. 'Finally someone who doesn't mistake me for that doppelgänger.' she said on a light and flirtuous tone.

Damon rolled his eyes and wondered if she recognized him. But how could she? In this future, they hadn't met. She hadn't turned him and Stefan into vampires. He managed to fight off the urge to cringe when he thought about his brother.

'Where is she, Katherine?' he asked on a threatening tone, but Katherine just lifted an eyebrow again and pursed her lips. 'Who? If you're talking about Rebekah, she sure could use some _company_.' Katherine said, putting emphasis on the last word and wiggling with her eyebrows suggestively.

'Not interested, sorry.' Damon said, while he lifted the stake a bit higher. Katherine's brown eyes flickered to the piece of wood and Damon was sure that he could see her swallow heavily. 'Now tell me where Elena is. Not Rebekah, not you, _Elena_. I'm sure that you saw her come in.' Damon said.

His eyes silently told her to stay silent, even though he knew that an entire house of vampires must've heard them talking. They didn't know that he had not only one, but nine stakes of white oak ash wood with him. Damon tapped the stake with his index finger and put the same finger in front of his lips and raised his eyebrows.

Katherine nodded, but continued to remain interested. She didn't look scared at all, confident that a vampire wouldn't kill one of his own kind. _Oh, you should know what I'm capable of_… Damon thought. He signalled for Katherine to go into the house and closed the door behind her softly.

Even though he knew that the sensitive ears in the house would hear it, Damon sneaked toward the nearby room. When he peeked around the corner, he saw Caroline sitting on Klaus'es lap. _What the in the world?_ Damon wondered. Caroline saw him first and she opened her mouth to say something, but Damon begged her with his eyes to stay silent.

'_Elena?' _he mouthed to her. Caroline frowned and seemed confused for a second, but then she shrugged and gestured to the stairs opposite the room with her chin. Was Caroline in on this? Damon couldn't help but wonder what she was doing on _Klaus'es lap_, seemingly comfortably fine while Elena was in danger.

He was just about to turn around when Klaus turned his head toward him. Their eyes met and Damon was ready to pounce and use the stake if it was needed. He saw something in Klaus'es eyes, was it… recognition? The two vampires looked at each other silently, but then Klaus looked at Caroline. They looked into each other's eyes so intensively that Damon realized that they were either doomed to be in love forever or, more likely, that they were having some kind of telepathic conversation.

Klaus nodded and Caroline got off the couch, followed by him shortly. Klaus'es eyes found the stake and they lingered on it. He seemed to be surprised, but not alarmed by it at all. _What's going on here? _Damon wondered. _Are they suddenly immune to white oak stakes as well? _

'_Where's Elena?'_ Damon mouthed at Klaus, even though he wasn't sure if he could trust the Original. Of course, Klaus wouldn't remember anything from the other future, but still, Damon knew nothing about the Originals now. For all he knew, Klaus might've broken the curse that rested on him already, with another doppelgänger. _Doubt it, though. Katherine is a vampire and she's here, so he's not looking for revenge on her. Maybe he doesn't know about it._

Klaus nodded and pointed at the stairs. Then, with the same finger, he drew a circle in the air and illustrated an explosion of the circle by suddenly widening his hands. Damon frowned and tried to understand it, but he couldn't. He shook his head with a frown that he was sure would look like he was in pain.

The blonde vampire rolled with his eyes. _She's with my mother._ Damon suddenly heard Klaus'es voice in his head say. His eyes widened, not because of the telepathic contact, but because of the realization that Esther was alive. He remembered Elena, the old Elena, saying something about the balance of Nature being destroyed. If Esther was involved in this, it could only mean trouble.

Damon gestured for them to follow him and the four vampires advanced on the stairs. Klaus pushed his way past Damon and pulled at the doorknobs one by one. Every door opened to reveal a bedroom, a bathroom and a lot more rooms that were evidently empty. Damon began losing his patience when the next door didn't open.

Klaus frowned and tried again and Damon could see the muscle flexing under his shirt. Evidently, the Original was putting all his strength into the effort of opening the door. Suddenly, the door opened and Klaus almost fell over the threshold.

'What the-' Klaus began, but he stopped talking and fell to floor, while clutching his head in his hands and biting off a scream. His body shuddered and Damon felt a whoosh of wind. Katherine had gone off. _Coward_ Damon thought.

'Klaus!' Caroline yelled, but when she entered the room, she too began screaming and clutching her head. Damon entered the room and nothing seemed to happen. He held up his stake, making sure that Esther could see it. Her eyes widened a bit, but then a cruel smile came to her face.

'Maybe I can't make you feel physical pain, but I can convince you that it's _her_ heart that you want to pierce through.' the witch said with an icy voice. Damon tensed and followed her outstretched finger, that pointed to the brunette that was strapped to an old rocking chair, wailing in pain.

'Let her go, Esther. All I need to do is to make everyone remember and then it will be all right.' Damon said sharply. He stepped around the two vampires on the floor, that could barely keep their eyes open and advanced on the witch.

With a gesture of her hand, Elena cried out and a cut appeared on her upper arm. Damon took another step and another cut appeared. The vampire growled and took a step back, but Elena was still crying in pain.

'That's it, you got it. The closer you get, the more blood that flows.' Esther said in a cheerful tone, as if this was just a social meeting. Damon growled at her. 'Besides, making everyone remember is going to be very hard…' Esther mused, almost to herself. She started pacing, more to irritate him rather than anything else.

'Why put all the effort into getting everyone to re-live the most important part of their lives concerning vampires, werewolves, whatever, when I can just kill the source and restore the balance _and _the future?' Esther asked him, her eyes fixated on the stake in his hands.

_So that's it. The most important part… of course that's it. _Damon thought to himself. It sounded logical and simple, but apparently there was some kind of a loophole, an error, why else would Alaric be alive?

'Oh, you're wondering about the hunter, hmm? Well, he was just a distraction. While you were telling him the entire story, I was busy torturing Elena.' Esther said, her voice sounded so sinister and cruel that it cause goose-bumps on Damon's arms. At the same time, he felt betrayed and broken.

No, it wasn't true. Alaric couldn't be on Esther's side. It was just impossible. But why not? From what Esther had told him, it sounded like she'd been the one to bring him back to life. He remembered Alaric say that he hadn't done anything to Stefan, but what if Alaric had somehow convinced Stefan to end his life?

Damon swallowed and tried to chase the thoughts away, convinced that Esther could somehow hear them.

'You made a mistake, Damon. The laws of Nature, the laws of the past, present and the future can't be thwarted.' Esther continued, cocking her head to the side as if she felt sorry for him. Damon knew that she was just mocking him and it drove him crazy.

'I don't give a crap about _Nature_, witch. Everything I did was for Elena, _because_ of Elena.' Damon spat at her, baring his fangs. Esther laughed and shook her head. 'Simple enough for me to fix. I just kill her, then kill you, after I made you suffer and then I kill all my children. Then in the end I will kill my husband and myself and all the abominations will be wiped off the Earth.'

He couldn't believe that someone would be willing to kill her entire family, let alone her husband, the man that she loved. Damon blinked and felt ill because of all this. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and took a step forward, causing Elena to cry again. He took the step back when he realized that he couldn't let Elena suffer.

He was quite sure that if he got too close, the pain alone would be enough to kill her.

'And you know what, Damon? I don't have to do anything to kill her. I used a spell to quicken her transition, or rather, lack of. Instead of twenty-four hours, she only had four. Which means that you have about half an hour left before she dies.' Esther said and she chuckled at Damon's expression.

_No_. Was all that Damon could think. _I'm not going to lose her again._ He blinked away the tears and then swallowed away the lump in his throat. He had to do something and he had to do it quickly, or else he would lose everything that was valuable to him: Elena.

Suddenly, two other vampires burst into the room. In the blur of colours and motions, Damon was pretty sure that it were Rebekah and Elijah. Rebekah bent through her knees and looked like she would have to vomit, while Elijah just growled and balled his fists. For some reason, their resistance against Esther's spell was much stronger than Klaus'es and Caroline's.

'Your sage stopped burning, mother.' Elijah said coldly. The vampire, in a suit as always, seemed as calm as ever. 'We heard everything about your plan and father is searching for the stake now.' he continued. He glanced at Damon for a second and saw the stake.

'Not necessary, so it seems.' the vampire said with a shrug. He plucked the stake out of Damon's hand, who got an idea. He quickly removed all the hidden stakes from their hiding places and tossed every vampire in the room one.

When Klaus'es fingers closed around the smaller stake, he stopped screaming. Caroline continued screaming, as if she was still in pain. His entire attention was fixed on Esther, as if he was planning something.

'Fine.' Esther said loudly and merciless. 'You've all sealed your fates.' she said while she took a dagger from the table next to her. All the vampires followed the movement with their eyes, but they were powerless. 'It only hurts a bit for you, dear.' Esther said sweetly, too sweetly, to Elena. Elena seemed to be completely oblivious of what was going on around her, numbed by the pain. 'For them, it will hurt a lot more.' Esther spoke, while she lowered the dagger above Elena's heart…

'_No!'_ Damon growled, but just when the tip of silver touched Elena's skin, a blur of blackness jumped toward the witch. Damon saw a blur of razor-sharp, white teeth that embedded itself into Esther's neck and then the witch was shielded out of sight by an enormous wolf.

'Klaus?' Elijah asked, obviously confused. Damon didn't pay attention to any of this, because he ran to Elena and broke the straps that kept her tied to the chair. 'Who are you?' she whispered, but Damon _sshd_ her softly. 'It's all going to be fine, Elena, don't worry.' Damon whispered at her.

But he couldn't keep the panic out of his voice. Elena needed human blood and she needed it within two minutes. And there was no human in the Mikealson house.


	14. Epilogue

**Goodness, I hope that you all find this a worthy epilogue! Finally, I finished my second fic! I never seem to be able to finish stories, or fics… The first fic that I finished is called "Just A Dream", it's not a Vampire Diaries fic but please check it out if you've ever watched a show called "Merlin"!**

**An enormous "THANK YOU!" to everyone who read, followed and favourited this story! You guys rock!  
**

**By the way, I just watched the first episode of season 4 a few hours ago. I don't get how Elena couldn't at least spare Damon a kind word! Or hug him, or something. I'm not very pleased with the way how she remembered the things that he'd made her forget, either. It was nice, but I would've loved for it go at a slower pace, in her sleep or something, remembering fragments while Damon's there to comfort and confuse her feelings… *sigh***

**My hopes are not very high right now…**

**BEFORE THE WORST**

**EPILOGUE**

The dark haired man burst into the room, slamming the door closed with such power that the windows shook in their frames. He was angry, _bloody hell _was he angry, but most of all the vampire was desperate. Desperate to fix his mistake, to fix everything and to save a life so important to him that it hurt to breathe.

Bonnie looked up from the mug of herbal tea that she'd been enjoying before being disturbed so rudely. Her forehead creased when she saw the state that he was in: clothes splattered with blood, blazing blue eyes so wide with anger that she thought they were going to spit flames. His hands were balled to fists at his sides as he glared at her, his black hair ruffled and one big mess.

'Bonnie! You have to send me back to the past again!' he shouted, advancing on her as if they were in the middle of a scorching desert and she possessed the only water that was left. The young witch'es brows furrowed as she got up and held out her hands in front of her.

'Damon, what are you talking about?' she asked, confusion clear in her voice. Her brown eyes studied the vampire, it looked as if he'd fought. In no more than a heartbeat, she found herself firmly pressed against the wall of her house. For a second she wondered how he even got in there in the first place: she couldn't remember inviting him in. 'How did you even get in here?'

His blue eyes were wide and crazy, but Bonnie also recognized the sadness in them. 'Did something happen to Elena?' she demanded sharply, knowing that Damon loved her more than anything else in the world. She could imagine that he would look this way if she was hurt, but her mind just wouldn't accept that possibility and pushed it away stubbornly.

The dark haired vampire shook her harshly and pushed her against the wall even more. 'Please. You have to send me back…' he stammered, desperation making his voice husky and hoarse. 'I have to save…' he released her and before Bonnie could even blink, he was on his knees, staring up at her with his blue eyes filled with tears.

'I'm _begging _you, Bonnie, _please_.' his voice was much softer now and Bonnie could almost hear the hope disappearing in it. Teardrop escaped out of his eyes and soon more followed. The young witch held her breath and wondered what the hell was going on. Damon was obviously desperate and the only reason for that could be…

'Damon, what happened to Elena?' she enquired sharply. The vampire shook his head and averted his eyes. 'I… I wasn't quick enough I… I couldn't stop…' the dark haired man gasped and laid his hand on his chest as if he was physically hurt. 'Damon!' Bonnie yelled, finally frightened by the way the vampire behaved.

She'd never seen Damon this desperate. She couldn't bring herself to think of Elena, hurt, perhaps even dead. All she knew was that she and Damon had left some days ago to go on a trip, no-one knew anything else about it.

Finally Damon looked up at her, tear streaks on his cheeks and his gaze pleading and desperate. Bonnie swallowed heavily and slid down against the wall so that she could face him. 'What happened, Damon?' she asked softly. 'What happened to Elena?'

The dark haired vampire swallowed and shook his head. 'Where to begin…' Bonnie could hear him mutter under his breath.

**x.X.x BEFORE THE WORST x.X.x **

'_Elena! Elena, keep your eyes open! Please!' Damon begged when the chocolate haired girl closed her eyes. A sigh left her lips and even though her chest was still rising and dropping, Damon knew that there wasn't much time left. He turned his head to the nearest vampire, Rebekah. In the other future she'd been the one to kill Elena, but Damon couldn't care less about it now. _

'_Get human blood, quickly!' he shouted, hating how desperate his voice sounded. He sounded broken and afraid, then again he was scared to death. Losing Elena again would be too much. He'd lost her once, when she'd died in the full moon ritual. Then he'd lost her again when he'd thought that she was dead for good. And he lost her another time, when she hadn't completed the transition. _

_He felt as though he'd lost her already, for she didn't remember who he was and that compulsion couldn't be reversed. He couldn't remember if Rebekah was still in the room, but suddenly Klaus crouched beside him. Damon looked up for a second, but then averted his gaze back to Elena, stroking her chocolate brown hair. _

'_She's dreaming.' Klaus said. 'You should comfort her.' Damon looked back at the hybrid and nodded. He knew that Rebekah wouldn't return in time, if she'd left at all. The dark haired vampire closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before he delved into Elena's mind, into her dreams. _

_When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a place that he hadn't expected: although he'd only seen it from the outside, it was clear that he was inside the Gilbert lake house. Even more surprising was that he was lying in a soft bed. _

_His hand reached out and he held his breath when his fingers brushed over something smooth and soft. His fingers twirled one of the strands around them. Elena laid next to him and he gave her a gentle poke with a smirk on his face. 'Wake up time for sleepy heads.' he teased. _

_It was hard for him to keep the act together, because all he wanted to do was cry. Elena groaned and Damon grinned at how she grasped a pillow and pulled it over her head. The vampire snatched the pillow away. _

'_Urgh.. Why do you always show up in my bed in the morning?' the half-awake girl groaned as she opened her eyes. Her doe brown eyes looked up at him and he could see the smile that her lips began to form when she saw him. _

'_I never thought I'd see you again!' Elena exclaimed while she threw herself on top of him. Damon laughed and held her in his arms tightly, not planning on letting go any time soon. He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead and smirked. 'Neither did I.' he sighed. _

_She buried her head in his chest and he counted the times that her heart beat. _

'_I'm dying, aren't I?' _

_Damon inhaled sharply and nodded. He saw her smile fade and her grip tightened. 'At least I remember you. Everything, even the… well, all the other things that haven't really happened here.' _

_He nodded and held her tightly. 'How long?' she asked him nervously. The dark haired vampire shook his head. 'About two minutes in the real world, I guess. But I think two minutes passed already here.' he said thoughtfully, taking the time to look around. _

_Damon was about to say something, but Elena's lips pressed against his and he felt her tongue sliding over his bottom lip. Wasting no time, he rolled over so that he could press her against the bed and began attacking her with kisses, soft, passionate or greedy ones. _

_Elena gasped when his lips brushed over her shoulder and he felt her stiffen. Unaware of it, Damon had started crying silently and he only noticed it when he saw a teardrop falling on her soft skin. _

'_I-I'm s..sorry..' he whispered with a strangled voice. Elena hugged him tightly and spared him a compassionate smile. 'Shh… None of this is your fault, Damon, you have to believe that.' she said while she cupped his face with her hands, forcing him to look at her. _

_Damon choked out something disjointed and felt more tears welling up when their lips collided. 'There must be something… something we can do. I… I can't lose you again.' Damon managed to whisper before his throat tightened because of the tears that he was fighting. _

_Elena looked up at him with sorrow in her eyes and shook her head. 'There's nothing you can do, Damon. This… it was all a lesson.' she confessed softly. _

_The vampire's head shot up and his mouth formed a perfectly round 'o' as he stared at her. 'What?' he enquired hoarsely. Elena sighed and averted his eyes._

'_Damon… You and Stefan had to learn that the past isn't something that you can _change_.' she said. Before he could say anything, she put a finger against his lips. 'I couldn't tell you until now… I'm so sorry.' she whispered, burying her head in her hands, shoulders shaking and body trembling. _

_The air left his lungs as a hiss. He grabbed Elena at the shoulders and forced her to look at him, eyes narrowed in rage and betrayal. 'What? You knew this all along? You knew that I'd lose you again and you didn't tell me because you _couldn't_!?' he demanded. _

_Elena gasped, but no words would leave her lips. Her chocolate brown eyes filled with tears and Damon glared at her. 'Please.. please forgive me.' Elena begged. Damon snarled at her and pushed her against the headboard, the covers slipping off her to reveal the curves of her naked body. Damon didn't even notice it. _

'_How can I forgive you? How can I _possibly_ forgive you! You played along, _knowing_ that I would lose you again…' Damon shouted, but halfway through his sentence his voice broke and became merely a whisper. _

'_I… I can't live without you.' Damon stated, as if realization downed on him. He looked up at Elena, determination in his eyes. He nodded as though he agreed with himself. 'Yes.. that's it. I'll end my own life to be with you.' he muttered. _

'_No! Damon, you can't do that!' Elena protested, but Damon just shook his head and smirked at her, his hopes renewed. 'That's where you're wrong Elena.' he said firmly, stroking her hair gently. 'I can and I will.' _

_Elena shook her head. 'You don't understand. You have to live, Damon, you _have_ to, otherwise you won't-'_ _ but she was cut off by Damon's lips on her, kissing her passionately, desperately. Teardrops landed on her cheeks and rolled down toward her mouth, making their kiss a mix of sweet and salty. _

_He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Elena moaned into his mouth and cupped his cheeks with her hands. She opened her eyes to see Damon looking at her intensely, before he slowly closed his eyes. Elena moaned and wrapped her naked legs around his waist, closing her eyes and focusing on their kiss. _

_It wasn't long before Damon released her and threw his leather jacket off. Elena's eyes widened when he stripped his shirt off and watched when he unzipped his pants. 'Damon…' she whispered, but he just silenced her with another deep kiss until she moaned. He leaned into her until she laid back on the bed. _

_When he was entirely naked, Elena wrapped her legs around him, never breaking their kiss. His fingers brushed over her soft, pale skin while he softly bit her on her neck. Elena moaned and squirmed beneath him. _

_While they were making love, they were oblivious to the fact that one wall of the lake house was blasted away. They didn't see how one of the windows was fractured into a thousand pieces, nor did they feel it when the headboard turned into dust. _

'_Damon!' Elena screamed desperately while she clutched him tightly. Damon opened his eyes and one look around him was enough. 'Elena.' he whispered, his voice trembling. He closed his eyes and claimed her mouth again, caressing her soft skin, soothing her. _

_She cried and before Damon even had time to react, she wasn't in his arms anymore. Instead of her luscious pale skin and her chocolate brown hair, all that was left was dust. Enraged, Damon cried out her name over and over again, destroying everything the room that hadn't been yet destroyed. _

_In the end it was himself that was destroyed, he watched as his fingers turned into dust and wished that he would really die. He closed his eyes and waited, until there was nothing left to wait for. _

_He opened his eyes and screamed, launching himself toward the dead witch. Klaus grasped his hands and forced his arms on his back. 'She's already dead!' Klaus snapped into his ear, but Damon didn't listen. He wanted to rip the dead witch to pieces. _

'_Then give me a stake so that I put an end to this!' Damon seethed. Klaus'es grip loosened for a second and Damon looked over his shoulder desperately. 'She's my Caroline, Klaus.' he whispered broken-heartedly. 'Please..' The hybrid looked at him and nodded, a touch of sorrow slipping into his gaze. _

_Damon dashed toward the nearest white-oak ash stake and his hands trembled when they folded around the wood. He couldn't keep himself from shaking when he put the tip on his chest and applied a bit of pressure. The vampire bit into his lip when he felt the sting, but he kept putting more pressure stubbornly. _

'_No!' someone yelled, but Damon didn't waste his time to look up…_

**x.X.x BEFORE THE WORST x.X.x  
**

The dark haired vampire looked up at Bonnie and surprised her with a small smile. 'Elena's fine.' he said intensely. Bonnie felt her muscles relax in relief. Then the young witch frowned. 'If Elena's fine, then who do you want to save?' she asked hesitatingly.

Damon sighed and looked down, thinking about his brother, how he'd saved him. Stefan had burst in at the last second and snatched the stake out of Damon's hands. Enraged, both brothers had rolled over the floor, fighting violently for the stake when Damon heard a gasp.

_Stefan's eyes were on him, green eyes widely open in disbelief. The grip that he'd had on Damon loosened and both brothers looked down to see the stake embedded in Stefan's chest. 'No, no, Stefan!' Damon said desperately, trying to keep his brother up. Stefan shook his head and gasped again. 'It's… all right… Damon. I… don't… blame you.'_

_Damon had held his brother when his skin had turned grey, blue veins standing out against the man's pale skin. The dark haired vampire closed his brother's eyes softly with his thumbs and swallowed heavily. He wrapped his hands around the stake and pulled it out. When he wanted to stab himself to the heart with it, soft fingers grasped his hands and stopped him. When he looked up, his eyes found her chocolate brown eyes. 'Oh Damon, I'm so sorry…' she whispered, before he lurched himself forward, into her arms. _

'My brother died.' Damon said softly, averting his eyes. Bonnie gasped and Damon refused to look up at her. 'He kept me from ending my life.'

'Elena died, Bonnie. She didn't make it through the transition. And yet she lives…' Damon whispered. After getting over the shock that she was alive, Damon had snatched a blood bag out of Rebekah's hands and practically forced her to drink it. After the bag was finished, she'd looked up at him uncertainly, until Damon had kissed her, feeling immensely relieved when he felt the sharp fangs in the row of teeth.

'I can't send you back, Damon. And I don't think Stefan would want you to.' Bonnie said softly. Damon nodded and got up slowly, stretching his legs and his stiffened muscles. The vampire and the witch nodded at each other before he slipped out of the house.

Bonnie frowned and wondered how he'd gotten into her house without an invitation. She hadn't invited him in. Had she? Her frown became deeper and she felt like she was forgetting something, something very important, but the brunette just couldn't put her finger on it. Finally, the witch shrugged and brushed it off, taking a sip of her cold tea.


End file.
